Focus
More bodyguards in line of hire
By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-03 07:56
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Increasing security concerns mean brisk business for related services. Cao Li in Beijing reports.
Zhang Li turned around and looked at the two muscular men hiding in the shadows, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible. Although they pretended to be reading newspapers, she knew they were watching her every move.
"I call them shushu, my uncles," said the 7-year-old. Her mother calls them her bodyguards.
With her rosy cheeks, pigtails and bright pink rucksack, Zhang looks like every other first-grader as she skips through the gates of her primary school in downtown Shanghai. What sets her apart is her entourage.
"We're her secret escorts," said Zhou Jie from CCG Security, the company hired to protect the girl from her divorced father.
In the last two years, the 26-year-old martial arts expert has guarded visiting royals from the Middle East, celebrities and company CEOs. "But it is the first time I've protected an ordinary family," he said.
Once the preserve of the rich and famous, a shift in China's traditional customer base has led to a boom in demand for bodyguards. As the nation's wealth has grown, Chinese security firms say they are witnessing a surge in middle-class families using their services.
CCG Security, one of the market leaders, protected at least a dozen clients with annual salaries of roughly 400,000 yuan ($60,000) last year. In the last 12 months, that client list has more than trebled in size.
"More people are calling all the time," said Zhou, who explained most inquiries are about temporary protection during family or property disputes.
Zhang Li's mother (who did not want her daughter's real name used), a manager at a multinational company, called after a bitter breakup from her husband.
She hired four bodyguards to watch the schoolgirl around the clock in pairs, with each receiving 200 yuan an hour. They were given pictures of several people forbidden from coming into contact with Zhang and told to "be invisible" unless called on.
"The furious father arrived one day and tried to get into their apartment," said Zhou. "We ushered him out (of the building) and persuaded him to leave."
On a previous assignment, Zhou and four colleagues guarded the wife and child of a 40-year-old man whose pregnant mistress had threatened to expose their affair. After two weeks, the mistress "gave up and agreed to have an abortion", recalled Zhou.
Zhang Hong, a professor at the Chinese People's Public Security University, said he believes demand for such services will only increase in the future.
"We'll soon be seeing bodyguards accompanying elderly women to the bank, escorting office women as they house hunt or guard after children while their parents are away," he said.
Experts say the growing ranks of nouveau riche have a greater awareness about safety, although many predict that conflicts between individuals and businesses will only increase as society develops and the wealth gap widens.
"Now people are more satisfied (with their living standards), they care more about safety," added Zhang Hong.
Jin Yi Safety and Guard Technology, also in Shanghai, has received several calls this year from wives looking for protection as they divorce violent husbands. Two company employees also recently accompanied a home-owner to reclaim a property from tenants who refused to leave.
This diversity in customer requirements, which has been steadily growing over the last few years, follows a trend seen across the globe, according to a Jin Yi manager who gave his name as Feng.
"Our clients are usually white-collar workers who have a higher than average income," he said.
Dangerous hours
Private bodyguard services are also coming to the rescue in cases that are outside the remit of public security bureaus.
In September this year, a Shanghai man hired guards for his wedding banquet to stop his ex-girlfriend from ruining the event. Although the groom had received threats from the woman, experts say police are powerless to act unless a crime is actually committed.
"When people feel the threat but have no evidence, the authorities can't intervene," said Fang Fulai at Changhang Security, a Shanghai-based firm with about 6,000 employees. "Bodyguards are more experienced in dealing with disputes and can cater to specify needs."
Among the most burgeoning markets for security firms today is lawyers, who often faced with intimidation and violence.
Wu Dong at the Shanghai Bar Association said, although none of his colleagues have hired bodyguards, he knows of several who have been attacked by people involved in cases they are handling.
"We recently accompanied an attorney to a hearing in Jiangsu province," said Cheng Guanyao, a department manager for CCG Security. "The accused had hired people to threaten him and we were there to make sure we got him through the emergency gate safely."
Depending on the quality, security services are relatively inexpensive, with companies offering guards for as little as 100 yuan per hour. However, the more the danger, the higher the price.
Chai Chang raised her right hand to show China Daily reporters a long scar that runs along the tips of three fingers. She received the wound in October after tackling a thief.
"Of course, there are dangers. Otherwise why would people pay us to protect them?" said the 25-year-old, who has worked for Tianjiao Security in Beijing for more than a year. Looking at her scar, she added: "It's only a minor injury. They're common. Some of my colleagues have suffered much worse."
Chai was guarding a 40-year-old Beijing entrepreneur during a business trip to Shenzhen, a city in South China's Guangdong province, and had "sensed someone following us" during a walk by the sea.
"A man ran past and grabbed my client's Hermes handbag," she said. "I ran after him and caught him but he had a knife. I grabbed the blade with my right hand and held him down until the police arrived."
Even after surgery, the feeling in the tips of her fingers has not returned. Yet, she remains philosophical and insisted her job is to risk her well-being to protect someone else's. The salary helps, too.
Chai earns roughly 30,000 yuan a month, more than 10 times the average wage in Beijing, "so we're paid to face danger", she added calmly.
Seeking protection
The security services market is also being boosted by customers involved in the country's property, mining and financial sectors, which are also prone to conflict.
Xu Ming (not her real name), from Zhengzhou, Henan province, whose family own development firms and hotels, told China Daily that, in 2007, she got bodyguard for her son - then 5 years old - after the attempted kidnap of one of her relatives. She said she also received several threatening text messages.
"Most people I meet from the business world have bodyguards for themselves or their families because there are so many kidnappings and acts of violence happening today," she explained.
Coal mine boss Zhang Min (he also did not want to be identified) in Beijing said he hired an army veteran and martial arts expert to be his driver in 2008 as "mining is a dangerous industry and very often I have to carry large amounts of cash with me".
However, many businessmen and women are choosing to beef up their security simply because their competitors are. China Daily reporters posing as potential customers contacted a man advertising bodyguard services on Baidu, the Chinese search engine. He said he was willing to "slash enemies" and claimed he had "forcefully collected debts" for previous clients.
Luo Ying, deputy manager of CCG Security's Beijing branch, said his company receives many calls from customers wanting "big-built men who can fight".
"There is still a gray area in the industry that clients want bodyguards to use for violence. Some companies don't reject (that kind of) business," he said, adding that there is also a habit of people hiring friends instead of professionals, which means there is a risk they could be untrained or undisciplined.
Zhang Hong at the Chinese People's Public Security University said the current level of social conflicts and crime is "natural" for a country with an economy at this stage of development.
However, other experts argue that the growing number of disputes over home relocations and migrant workers in recent years has exacerbated the situation.
After a spate of shocking attacks on school children last summer, security firms said they saw a marked increase in the number of wealthy families looking for bodyguards to protect youngsters.
In 2009, the financial crisis forced many large factories to downsize or relocate, causing labor disputes or social instability.
Luo said he and his colleagues have been drafted in many times to escort company managers during standoffs with angry or sacked workers demanding more compensation.
Last year was the best on record for CCG Security, as well as for many others, and bosses expect revenues to peak even higher in 2010.
In fact, China's nouveau riche are creating such a demand for protection services that many international firms are attempting to take a piece of the pie. One of them is GST Security Technique Consulting, a German company that set up offices in Beijing two years ago and is looking to further expand its operations.
As the firm's general manager Armin Liebler put it: "No company can afford to ignore the Chinese market right now."
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