Before the show, Mr. Rowswell was interviewed on national TV about being the first foreigner invited to appear. Many foreigners and hip young Chinese cringe at his performances. An expat entertainment and news magazine called Beijing Scene has made Dashan-bashing a regular feature. But that merely adds to his celebrity. But with most variety shows taped around the Chinese New Year, the performing season yields at most a dozen guest shots.
Residuals are unheard of here.
Foreign companies present a different problem. Some of them were replaced with Mr. Rowswell. But Canada has few multinational companies active in this country. SO now he has licensed his name to the Canadian-Chinese joint ginseng venture that puts his face on the box in exchange for a salary and a percentage of sales. BUt marketing funds dried uup when the Canadian partner recently had to file for bankruptcy protection from creditors.