“Uncle Dashan! Uncle Dashan!”
In a smart bookshop in Chongqing city, deep in the humid heart of Sichuan, boys in new sneakers and girls with ribbons in their hair clamour for attention from the most famous foreigner on Chinese TV. Toronto-born Mark Rowswell – or, as he is known to a fifth of the world’s population, “Dashan” – does not disappoint, rewarding this group of his youngest fans with a beaming grin here, a self-deprecating quip there.
In fact this goofy, 40-year-old six-footer with pitch-perfect Chinese might just be the most famous Canadian in the world. For Rowswell is crown prince of a growing band of foreigners who have found fame on Chinese TV, often by accident – a bizarre experience by any standard, and one which forms the heart of a memoir to be published by Granta later this week.
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