Jin Xing with her husband Heinz-Gerd.

At age 9, Jin insisted on leaving her hometown in Shenyang and joined the army, which had the top dance troupes in China at that time. Little Jin left home despite a father's worry and a mother's tears.

In 1988, she secretly left for America to learn modern dance, although it was not considered mainstream art in China then.

At 28, she changed her gender by a series of miserable operations and was later confronted with inevitable social backlash of such a radical move.

The name Jin Xing, for a long time, is closely connected with mystery and legend. However in 2005, the star finally fell back to earth, when she met her husband Heinz-Gerd, a German who worked in Shanghai.

The two met on a flight and Heinz enthusiastically initiated their courtship three days later. About one year later he proposed.

"I am lucky because Heinz never tried to change me," Jin says.

After master class, Jin changes from her practicing suit into a long pink dress and brown cotton shirt, with a neckline laden with lace.

Her soft hair falls on her broad shoulders, which are draped by a brownish red scarf.

"I told Heinz clearly before we got married that I am not a woman who needs a husband," she says.

"I can take care of my children. So if you enter my life, please make it better, otherwise I don't need it."

Jin's first adopted son, Dudu, did not like the "strange man" in his home at first.

When he was only 3, he would hit Heinz's arm whenever the man touched his mother. And he would even call Jin's ex-boyfriend's name just to irritate him.

But three years down the track, a healthy father and son relationship has blossomed.

At home, Jin is still the absolute authority and uses a three-grade disciplinary system with her children. The first-grade method involves the look of the eyes. The second-grade tactic uses the voice. Only the last grade involves beating children.

Proudly, she says she only uses first grade because her kids know who's the boss. "Mom is law" her children often say.

"How could I not be powerful?" Jin says jokingly.