Rock Star - Dashan

Apparently, being white and living in urban but not Beijing or Shanghai, China makes one a bit famous. Children rush to you on the street to say hi. Managers and officials introduce themselves. Your anonymity is gone.

This has been the experience of a friend of mine, Lucas, who recently moved from St. Louis to Liaoyang, China. A city with more than 10 million people, Liaoyang is larger than HK, but Lucas finds himself one of two white people living there, at least that he has seen. Working at a small university/vo-tech, is certainly having an interesting experience and one very different from our HK adventure.

Apparently, the most famous westerner in China is a man name Dashan. As a student in China during the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, Dashan stayed unlike most westerners. This apparently cause Dashan to be catapulted into high regard by the Chinese government and now Dashan has made a career of being Dashan, China's white man. More information on his website:

http://www.dashan.com/

Lucas' students think he looks like Dashan, and he receives a smaller but similar rock star public reception. So, here I am with Liaoyang's Dashan. Lucas stopped over for the day in HK this weekend as he wraps up an 8-week vacation from school and heads back to Beijing and then home.