Recognize that guy in the pic, to the right of Canadian PM Stephen Harper? It is Mark Henry Rowswell, better known as Da Shan 大山, or ‘big mountain’, and he is the most recognizable Canadian in China.

Ok, I know I just mentioned a while back that Dr. Norman Bethune was the most well known Canadian in China. I still think this is true, but Da Shan is running a VERY close second and is easily the most recognizable living Canadian in China.

Rowswell, who is from Ottawa, went to Nepean High School and then studied Chinese at the University of Toronto in the mid-late 80s. He graduated, and was awarded a full scholarship to attend Peking University in Beijing.

Now, I probably don’t need to say this, but China in the late 80s was a hell of a lot different than the China of today. Even in larger cities like Beijing, Chinese people had rarely, if ever come into contact with foreigners, let alone one who could speak Chinese. But Rowswell didn’t just speak Chinese – he mastered it and spoke Chinese better than many native speakers.

So when he was invited to play a skit on China’s annual CCTV New Year’s Gala (with an estimated 700 million viewers), he rocked to stardom. Rowswell – and the country bumpkin character he played, named ‘Da Shan’ – became a household name in China literally overnight.

He then began to study cross-talk, a Chinese form of comedic dialogue between two performers. There was a huge controversy in Da Shan’s formal acceptance to the cross-talk inner-circle, as it’s considered so highly skilled to be beyond the reach of most native Chinese speakers, let alone a foreigner. Eventually he was accepted, and excelled.

Twenty years later, Da Shan is still a huge celebrity in China. He has a program on CCTV9 (English) to teach English speakers Chinese, continues to appear on or host variety shows, and is in about a million different commercials. Despite the fact that now there are many foreigners in China, and many who can speak fluent Chinese, “Da Shan” is considered special. Maybe it’s because he was the first, maybe it’s because he speaks it so well, maybe it’s because he has a wholesome image and is a friendly, non-threatening, foreigner image; who knows. Whatever it is, Chinese people really like him.

The Chinese may love Da Shan, but he’s no friend of mine. His level of Chinese language ability was at first an inspiration; a beacon of what was possible. “If Da Shan – a fellow Canadian even! – can speak like that, surely some day I can too, right?”

Now that I’ve been here a few years, I just see Da Shan as this smug, discouraging, jerk.

I’ll come home from a day out, proud of my speaking, understanding, and reading a bunch of Chinese that I encountered. But then, I turn on CCTV or something and BAM, there is Da Shan, speaking Chinese better than the Chinese.

Or I’ll talk to someone who is Chinese and they’ll say (after the Bethune discussion), “Oh, do you know Da Shan? He is from Canada. He speaks Chinese very well”. But they ALWAYS have this look in their eyes that says “if he can do it, why can’t YOU? You are too lazy?” I want to say “Da Shan is a freak – almost nobody can learn a second language that well, that late in their life! He’s an anomaly!!” Unfortunately, I don’t know how to say most of that in Chinese, so I just meekly smile and say, “Yes, I know Da Shan. Yes, he speaks Chinese very well. He’s very clever, isn’t he?”, hoping that at very least I can salvage some ‘clever by association’ of being Canadian.

He is a cruel and constant reminder that no matter how much I practice or try to learn Chinese, I will never, ever be at that level. Never. Not even close. And not even only me – most other foreigners too.

Da Shan – you are the bane of Chinese-language learners everywhere.