Mr Bean visits China

Rowan Atkinson plays Mr Bean during a shoot for the Tonight 80's Talk Show at the Shanghai World Expo Park on Wednesday. Photo: Courtesy of Dragon TV

While it's been reported for a while now that Mr Bean, the character played by Rowan Aktinson, was heading to Shanghai, the purpose behind his visit wasn't known until Wednesday when the comedian showed up for Dragon TV's Tonight 80's Talk Show program.

Scheduled to air on September 14, many people are looking forward to seeing how Mr Bean, who is well-known for his comedic body language, will compare to Chinese talk show host Wang Zijian.

Previous rumors stated that Mr Bean was coming to China to learn martial arts, but according to a press release from Dragon TV, on Wednesday afternoon he instead took part in a film shoot for the show at the Shanghai World Expo Park where he, Wang Zijian and a number of dama (middle-aged women) and daye (middle-aged men) took part in one of China's favorite pastimes: guangchangwu (dancing in public plazas).

Although the comedian filmed part of Johnny English Reborn in Hong Kong and Macao in December of 2010, this marks the first time Atkinson has visited the Chinese mainland. Shanghai-based Dragon TV has also invited him for its 2015 Spring Festival Evening Gala. If he accepts this will make Atkinson yet another "heavyweight" international star who has celebrated the Chinese New Year on live TV in China, after South Korea's PSY last year.

According to Dragon TV, Atkinson has also been invited to appear as a special judge on the second season of comedy show Xiao'ao Jianghu.

After bringing in 20 million yuan ($3.2 million) at the Chinese box office with Johnny English Reborn in 2011, a recent TV advertisement for Snickers has once again made the actor popular among Chinese audiences.