YI Lingling, a child from a migrant family, has been an "orphan" since her parents divorced and left her with her aunt. Her parents dumped her so early that the girl has no idea of her real age.
Due to her aunt's family's bad economic situation, the introvert girl has to take care of all the household work, from cooking, cleaning to taking care of her three younger brothers.
Despite losing her parents and shouldering the family burden at such an early age, Yi is still lucky compared to other homeless children - she is studying at Zhi Yuan School, a migrant kids' school in Nanhui District.
"I love the school because the teachers there are very kind," said Yi.
Yi is in grade four and the education has ignited her passion for painting. "I want to be a painter in the future."
Zhi Yuan School was set up by Tu Xiao, a migrant teacher from Anhui Province, in 1999.
"We want to nurture migrants' children, many of whose parents hardly went to school," said Yang Youwei, headmaster of the school and Tu's partner.
The school now has 1,018 students though during the initial stages there were just a handful. In fact, when it opened, the school only had one student in grade six, the highest grade in China's primary school system.
But from the very beginning the school treated each student seriously, hiring two teachers for grade six.
"It was really an interesting sight to see one student taking physical education courses on the playground," recalled Yang.
Besides the daily courses, the school also focuses on students' ethics and manners.
"Once a local resident mockingly told me that he could easily tell a migrant kid by his or her wild appearance and behavior. From then on I was determined to change the way my students appeared in public," said Yang.
Since many migrant students come from suburban villages, their manner is not as polished or polite as other local kids. The school is taking efforts to persuade students to say "hello" when meeting people, throw rubbish in dustbins and always allow others to walk first.
Recognized as one of the well-operated schools by the district, Zhi Yuan School has got subsidies from ICF, a US-based charity fund. The subsidies include educational facilities like a printing machine, and awards for hardworking students and those from poor families. Yi is one such student.
ICF began its charity affair with the district's migrant schools last year and this year has subsidized US$162,380.
With help from the charity organization, the district held a big sports event for migrant students last year.
"The students were so happy at the sports event that they cherished every moment of participating in it," said Pan Renfang of the Nanhui District Education Commission.
"I was really moved by the students' passion and tough spirit, they would insist on finishing their match even after a big tumble, without tears or complaints."
Migrant schools generally have very little outdoor activities or laboratory experiments for their students, with some even hiring playgrounds and labs from public schools.
There are about 32 private schools for 19,000 migrant students in Nanhui. The education commission plans to launch a training program for school headmasters to regulate their operations.