I lived in Chengdu, Sichuan from 2004-2005 as an exchange student. Have taken 4-5 trips to various parts of China since then. Foreigners are of course becoming less of a novelty in China than they once were. It's definitely getting better. But seeing a tall white man speaking fluent Mandarin still commonly evokes Dashan comparisons. It isn't really offensive, it just gets mildly annoying by the 1,000th time you hear it.
The random casting calls were much more offensive. Not sure if they still do this--in the bigger cities like Shanghai and Beijing they probably don't have to anymore--but when I was in China, the demand for white faces in marketing media greatly outstripped the supply, so it was very common to be approached and begged to participate in some type of photo shoot or stage act for perhaps 1,000 kuai. So, any white guy could feel like Dashan for a day if he were so inclined.
I live in China and I am being treated very well. Obviously I am not Chinese, so people are just curious about who I am and where I come from. The staring is still what annoys me most, but getting used to it - I love when people come up and try to talk to me in broken English and I will answer them in broken Mandarin..
Did have the photo experience two times - oddly enough it was in Hong Kong. I think they must have been Chinese mainlanders on a tourist trip.
The random casting calls were much more offensive. Not sure if they still do this--in the bigger cities like Shanghai and Beijing they probably don't have to anymore--but when I was in China, the demand for white faces in marketing media greatly outstripped the supply, so it was very common to be approached and begged to participate in some type of photo shoot or stage act for perhaps 1,000 kuai. So, any white guy could feel like Dashan for a day if he were so inclined.