Dashan / en Popular Chinese celebrity Dashan visits 老司机直播 Scarborough /news/popular-chinese-celebrity-dashan-visits-u-t-scarborough <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Popular Chinese celebrity Dashan visits 老司机直播 Scarborough</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-02-09-Dashan2.jpg?h=58088d8b&amp;itok=x1Deb-AC 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-02-09-Dashan2.jpg?h=58088d8b&amp;itok=LcRpJY0N 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-02-09-Dashan2.jpg?h=58088d8b&amp;itok=rqCDpRW6 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-02-09-Dashan2.jpg?h=58088d8b&amp;itok=x1Deb-AC" alt="photo of Dashan at 老司机直播 Scarborough"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-02-09T14:19:41-05:00" title="Thursday, February 9, 2017 - 14:19" class="datetime">Thu, 02/09/2017 - 14:19</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Mark Rowswell, known to fans in China as 鈥淒ashan,鈥 visits fans at 老司机直播 Scarborough. His new live show is a combination of western stand-up comedy and traditional Chinese monologues (photo by Ken Jones)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/yeye-zhu" hreflang="en">Yeye Zhu</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Yeye Zhu</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/china" hreflang="en">China</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dashan" hreflang="en">Dashan</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">老司机直播</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mark-rowswell" hreflang="en">Mark Rowswell</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">老司机直播 Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">The 老司机直播 alum looks to reinvent his act </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>老司机直播 alum <strong>Mark Rowswell</strong>, aka&nbsp;鈥淒ashan鈥 in China, delivered his live performance in Mandarin to a packed crowd recently at the University of Toronto Scarborough.</p> <p>鈥淒ashan Live鈥 is based mostly on Rowswell鈥檚 personal story of being a famous foreigner in China. He says Chinese living in western countries like Canada are an ideal audience for his show since they understand both cultures.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭hey are already in this halfway position between the two different cultures&nbsp;so they are more likely to understand my stories,鈥 he says.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3420 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="501" src="/sites/default/files/2017-02-09-Dashan1.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Mark Rowswell, aka 鈥淒ashan,鈥 speaks to fans at 老司机直播 Scarborough (photo by Ken Jones)</em></p> <p>The audience was mostly made up of international students from China and members of the Chinese community in the GTA. Rowswell is the second-most famous Canadian in China just after Dr. <strong>Norman Bethune</strong>, also a 老司机直播 alum,&nbsp;who helped&nbsp;deliver&nbsp;modern medicine to rural China in the early 1900s.&nbsp;</p> <p>Rowswell, who is&nbsp;a member of 老司机直播's&nbsp;Board of Governors, gained his Chinese audience through television but now wants to try something a little different 鈥 live shows. He says that in China, a celebrity's live show features&nbsp;the same kind of performance or persona that audiences are used to.</p> <p>鈥淚 want them to see me as I am, a real person,鈥 says Rowswell. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 something you usually see from Chinese comedians.鈥</p> <p>It鈥檚 his third year performing stand-up comedy since he stopped hosting TV shows and live cultural events for CCTV, the Chinese state television broadcaster. He says he was tired of doing the same thing over and over again,&nbsp;and he relishes the opportunity of having more control of his own show.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲hat I was doing on TV was mostly hosting other people鈥檚 programs,鈥 says Rowswell. 鈥淭he production value in doing stand-up comedy is very different.鈥</p> <p>Though he speaks Mandarin just as fluent as native Chinese speakers, Rowswell says what he did on Chinese television for almost 28 years was very limited.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淔or most foreign comedians in China, what we do is mainly demonstrate linguistic skills like tongue twisters or perform a piece of Guankou,鈥 which Rowswell explains is a traditional Chinese linguistic skill of saying a series of names in one breath.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚 want to do something more original,鈥 he says.</p> <p>His live show is a combination of western stand-up comedy and traditional Chinese monologues. Western stand-up comedy features personal stories via jokes, while the latter is mainly based on an existing formula.&nbsp;</p> <p>Rowswell says many people believe these two kinds of comedy are very different from each other, but he doesn鈥檛 agree.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚 think the sense of humor is the same,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 like how cultures can meet. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 always cultural conflicts 鈥 I actually think they can go along together.鈥 &nbsp;</p> <p>He says he&nbsp;really enjoys the opportunity to meet students in person, many of whom grew up watching him on TV.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 09 Feb 2017 19:19:41 +0000 ullahnor 104728 at