Yichen is no longer a rarity. She said nearly half the students in her class were from divorced families. Many of their parents broke up after the government loosened laws to make divorce far easier.
"Yichen is a very innocent child, and it is probably too early to explain it to her," Gao said. "I will when she gets to the age where she can fall in love and get married."
If the Chinese government still tightly controls political speech, the media are now filled with entertainment news. The lives of Taiwanese pop singers or Chinese soccer stars fill newspapers. Celebrities adorn buses, billboards and packages of crackers.
Yichen first thought her path into that world would be through modeling. She spent three years at a modeling school before concluding that she was not tall enough and had slight imperfections in her skin.
She started school late, and despite her age, she will be entering 10th grade this fall. Her plans now include finishing high school and applying to Beijing's top conservatory. Then, possibly, she would like to study in the US or Europe. If musicals do not work out, she says she might try singing pop songs.
None of it will be easy. Her class recently held auditions for a musical staged on state television. She auditioned for a leading role but lost the part because her teacher thought she was too passive. "I cried and cried," she said.
School dominates her daily life. She begins classes at 6:45am, breaks for meals and concludes at 8:20pm. Her spare time is spent studying. But when she does have a free moment, she goes with friends to karaoke clubs to sing, as if they were the stars they aspire to become. She paints three of her fingernails yellow and grimaces when asked why she doesn't paint them all.
Unfashionable, she answered.
In many ways she is the innocent her mother describes, or perhaps just a typical teenager. She said she pays no attention to politics and has never thought about joining the Communist Party. She also sounds very traditional when asked what she thinks she must do to succeed in the new China.
"As long as I study hard and love my parents, I'm quite content with what I have," she said. She added, "My mother's expectations are high. She wants me to grow into a person with talent and education, with manners and a career."
One thing she has not done for her mother recently is sing. But when asked to sing for a foreign reporter, the quiet, unassuming girl did not hesitate. She first sang in English and blushed when she stumbled on some of the lyrics. But when she sang a Chinese pop ballad, her voice filled the empty rehearsal hall with a clear, lovely sound. She was lost in her song.
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