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China's Booming Bodyguard Business

As Wealth Grows, So Do Dangers for Rich

By Andreas Lorenz in Beijing

Being rich in Beijing or Shanghai can be dangerous -- unless you have a bodyguard. The security business in China is booming.

He's protected foreign statesmen visiting the country and top functionaries of the Chinese government, right up to the Politburo. When former party leader Zhao Ziyang, who was placed under house arrest following the massacre on Tiananmen Square in June of 1989, was allowed to play golf, he shielded him from contact with the outside world.

Zhe Meijie, 42, is a professional bodyguard. Before entering the private sector, he worked for the security office in Zhongnanhai, which as the headquarters of China's Communist Party is also the heart of power in Beijing. As a young policeman, he would patrol the compound's red-walled perimeter. Later he was one of the young men with the closely cropped hair, the single wired earphone and the bump in their jackets -- a member of the secret service protecting top Chinese leaders. An expert in Wushu, the Chinese martial art, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Still, nothing too exciting ever happened when he worked for the government. The only close call he ever had came when the engine of a car near Yasser Arafat backfired and Zhe and his colleagues mistook the sound for a gunshot. Viewed in that light, his was a quiet job. "It's pretty safe in China," he says.

That may still be the case today when statesmen visit. But in everyday life, things have become a bit dodgier -- at least for those who have profited from the giant country's economic reforms. Ever since the Communist Party began allowing some of its minions to hoard enormous riches, 14 dollar billionaires and about 240,000 millionaires have emerged in China.

Shady executives and a gangster underworld

In turn, China's newly rich have become the targets of shady executives and a gangster underworld. Businessmen occasionally hire contract killers to snuff out their competitors. There are unscrupulous bosses who want to keep workers who demand their wages off their backs. And criminals who will blackmail or kidnap the rich in order to get at their fortune.

It's a development that is creating the perfect market for a burgeoning security business. In today's China, there is no shortage of work for the industry. Young fellows clad in badly cut, drab uniforms guard the restaurants, commercial centers and residential neighborhoods of the well-off. And although the government officially prohibits private bodyguards, some specialize in providing personal protection for celebrities -- calling themselves "risk managers" or "security advisors" in order to skirt the law. Countless private or semi-private firms have shot out of the ground to create a veritable cottage industry.

Zhe, a thin, wiry man, started his own business, Beijing VIP Special Security Services, seven years ago. It's a position that allows him to do what he has always done: protect customers from assassination attempts and kidnappings.

An increase in kidnappings

Around 4,000 people were kidnapped in China in 2004. In one of the higher profile cases, a notorious gang dragged the well-known actor Wu Ruofu out of his BMW and hid him north of Beijing. The gangsters demanded a 2.1 million yen (€200,000) ransom, but the police tracked them down after just a few hours and freed Wu.

Another kidnapping case ended less fortunately. Yun Quanmin, an extraordinarily rich entrepreneur in the textile business in the Inner Mongolia province, was seized while making his way to his factory. The two kidnappers demanded almost €500,000 ($677,304). But when the family paid only half that amount, the kidnappers buried Yun alive.

A few days later criminals snatched the six-year-old son of a businessman in the northern province of Henan. They wanted €400,000 ($541,843) in return for releasing him. The father alerted the police, who quickly discovered the hideout. The boy had choked on his gag.

To keep from attracting the attention of the gangsters, many millionaires take pains to show as little of their wealth as possible in public. "The best method is to avoid driving a conspicuous car," says soap opera star Li Yapeng.

Employment for 200,000

Others, motivated at least in part by vanity, make bull-necked men with sunglasses clear the path to their Mercedes when they leave the karaoke bar. Customers pay as much as €3,000 ($4,064) a month for a bodyguard and they must also provide food and housing.

Some 200,000 personal bodyguards are estimated to already to be employed by the rich and beautiful throughout China. The southern industrial provinces of Guangdong and Fujian with their tycoons and mafia gangs are considered to be a special growth region for kidnappers.

"We have between 70 and 80 permanent customers," Zhe says. His office in an apartment block in northwestern Beijing features two Taoist statuettes next to burnt-up incense sticks. He sits behind a large brown desk in a checkered shirt and beige pants. Photographs on the wall show him standing behind people like former Prime Minister Li Peng, wearing sunglasses.

Zhe's business is thriving. His employees shield artists like opera singer Luciano Pavarotti or athlethes like David Beckham and Ronaldo from pushy fans when they make public appearances in China. Other customers include executives of foreign companies such as Mitsubishi or Nike.

Customers requiring special service can request a "VIP reception." For a fee of €500 per car and day, police cars escort foreign managers through the streets of Beijing and to their negotiations with blue lights flashing. Zhe borrows the cars from his former colleagues.