DaShan literally means Big Mountain. And this guy looks pretty tall from his pictures. But who in the world is DaShan?

That was the question I was faced with when I asked my students what Canadians they knew. I expected answers like Norman Bethune, Celine Dion, and Bryan Adams, but they all answered DaShan. I was simply confused. I was trying to figure out what famous Canadian's name could be translated into the sounds DaShan. Dixon? Dason? Disney? What?

It took me a long time to figure out who this guy was. I tried scouring the bookstores to find more about him, but I had no idea what he looked like or how his book might look like.

Then, I finally got a hold of his book. The title is could be roughly called "DaShan Takes Us to Canada". Cool. I flipped through the book very quickly. It was all in colour, which is quite rare for education books in China. The book covered things such as travel and tourism in Canada, cities in Canada, and, of course, an introduction to ice hockey. Very interesting.

There was, of course, a picture of DaShan in the book. In fact, his mug could be found throughout the book. He's not a bad-looking guy. He has slightly curly reddish-brown hair, he wears glasses, and he has a big nose, but all the people here say most foreigners have big noses. Plus, I found out that he was born in Ottawa and his real name is Mark Rowswell. That's all I really know about him.

Then someone informed me that DaShan's book had accompanying VCDs, sold separately, of course. I was really interested in seeing those. I got my chance the other day. I got to watch the third disc out of three discs. DaShan was travelling with two Chinese friends through Canada.

At this point and time in the video, they were in Quebec. They decided to go rent a car and drive into the country. So there was this whole thing about renting a car and filling up on gas. Very practical for someone who might visit Canada. The speed of the speech wasn't very natural. You could tell they were really trying to keep it clear and slow.

The video also had little snippets about partnerships and cultural exchanges that happen between Canada and China. One part of the video showed a team of engineers from China visiting a company in Winnipeg on how to improve the electrical utilities. The other one I saw was about Ottawa's Winterlude. That year's Winterlude had a focus on Chinese culture and had brought in renowned Chinese Ice Sculptors. Their exhibit had passed through Vancouver some time last year.

From what I have heard, he now lives in Beijing and has married a Chinese national. He works for CCTV and has his own weekly television show. People tell me his Putonghua was very poor when he first came, but he's a slickster with language now.

So when you ask someone from China what Canadians they know, you will be prepared for when they answer DaShan. Almost everyone here that I have talked to has asked me if I know DaShan. He's quite the celebrity in this part of the world.

I have found some links with a little more about DaShan:
National Film Board of Canada: Dashan-Ambassador to China's Funny Bone
Dashan Online - this site may be in Chinese text, but I am not completely sure. I couldn't access the site when I typed up this article. However, it may work for you. Good luck