According to Eileen Chang， there are only two kinds of girls in this world; they are either red rose or white rose， like the two heroines in her namesake novelette. If this dichotomy is used， then Jiang Yiyan is a white-rose girl， a type of girls most men dream of marrying and bringing home. Beautiful， sensible and intelligent， she radiates grace and innocence. In “Our Misplaced Youth” which made her widely known， she acts as a white-rose girl. Even now some people call her the name she appears in that television drama. In her latest film Deadly Delicious， she still acts as a white-rose girl who is tender and innocent.

Jiang Yiyan herself does not agree that she is a white-rose girl. She wanted to be a passionate girl in Our Misplaced Youth， but the director persuaded her. After that， she seems to have accepted the white-rose image. She says that other people accept the half of her temperament and that actually she is a girl of fire and water.

She does not look as much intelligent as a lovely girl， but she is wiser more than most people think she is. With a judicious understanding of fame and money， she pursues a simple way of life even though some of her classmates are in stardom. Jiang says that she does not subject herself to fame. Some friends wonder why she is not madly chasing fame. She says she has dedicated her life to art and hopes her friends should allow her to progress steadily and go a long way.

Her career is not paved with roses， though. For a year， she turned down many job offers and stayed idle. “It does not matter where you are. What you decide to be matters.” She wants to put her heart into creating unforgettable characters and not into seeking life’s material luxuries.

She left home at 14 in 1998 when she became the first girl in Shaoxing enrolled into the affiliated middle school of Beijing Dance Academy. At 14， she wanted to be independent from her nagging mother and go her own way. Standing on a footbridge one evening in downtown Beijing and looking at all the maddening fantasies of the metropolis， she suddenly found herself lonely and homesick and weeping. But she told herself to be strong and keep herself bravely on the track she chose for herself. Later she was enrolled into Beijing Film Academy， partly because she wanted to be close to her boyfriend. But the romance fell apart before her first semester began at the academy. For a while， she shut herself up for fear of hurting herself or others. Gradually， she broke away from the shadow and came into sunlight again. Recalling her life during that period， she says “Some of my people did not understand me， but all of them in the end came to embrace me with their smile. I have grown up thanks to the loss of that time and to the trust and tolerance I received.”

For most southerners in Beijing， a big problem is probably food. Jiang is different. She fell in love with steamed buns typical of the north. She fancied steamed buns so much that she enjoyed them as if they were between-meal nibbles. And her body responded fast to the big take. She had to wrap herself up with handi-wrap and jogged four hours a day. The nightmarish regimen cut 15 kilos finally.

The biggest problem she conquered was acting itself. Years ago， many people’s first impression of her was her beauty， but they were not impressed by her acting. Jiang learned acting doggedly and improved fast. Lu Chuan， director of “Nanjing! Nanjing!”， says that Jiang was his biggest discovery in directing the film， that she shone in every scene，and that incredibly her soft body was a powerhouse.

Jiang Yiyan says that she inherits strength from her mother. Her biggest wish now is to buy her mother a big house.□