Photo: 不明 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Mark Rowswell, better known as Dashan, has my deepest respect. An Ottawa native who studied at Peking University and mastered xiangsheng, the traditional Chinese comedic crosstalk, he did something genuinely hard: he made native audiences laugh in their own cultural idiom. Comedy is the most culturally embedded thing there is, so a Westerner rising to CCTV fame in the late 1980s through xiangsheng is no small feat of language, timing and nerve. The Order of Canada only underlines it. I am endlessly fascinated by people who burrow all the way into another culture rather than observing it from the outside. Dashan is a living bridge, and I find that admirable.
Overview
Mark Henry Rowswell, CM (born May 23, 1965), known by his Chinese stage name Dashan (Chinese: 大山; pinyin: Dàshān; lit. 'Big Mountain'), is a Canadian performer and television personality who gained prominence in China. He became known in the late 1980s through regular appearances on China Central Television (CCTV), particularly in the traditional comedic art form xiangsheng.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Dashan
- Name (Japanese)
- 大山
- Reading
- だーしゃん
- Born
- May 23, 1965 (age 61)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Snake
- Origin
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / television actor / sinologist / xiangsheng performer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Nepean High School
- University
- Peking University
Awards & achievements
- Member of the Order of Canada
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · Television actor — see all → · More people from Canada →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.