A trainee woman bodyguard works out with an instructor. Photo: IC

They look like neatly dressed assistants and can sometimes be seen accompanying senior executives, politicians, movie stars or pop singers. But these young women are not just personal assistants - they are some of the new breed of bodyguards available for hire in Shanghai.

Ye Longsheng is the operations director and crisis consultant for the China Cityguard Security Service Group and explained that although his company has more than 70 male bodyguards on its books at present there are only five women.

"We started to offer the services of female bodyguards just a year ago - there are few properly skilled women bodyguards available."

All the female bodyguards in the company have been professional soldiers, athletes or graduates of martial arts schools or police academies. Even though they are already skilled when they sign with the company they then have to undergo more rigorous training - not so much to improve their combat skills or fitness levels but to adapt them to their new line of work and give them some interpersonal communication skills.

Kickboxing star 

And their work is very different from whatever they have done before as 25-year-old Sun Fanfan discovered. A former member of the Shandong Province sanda (Chinese kickboxing) team she joined the China Cityguard Security Service Group one year ago and since last May has been the 24-hour personal bodyguard for a woman bank president in Shanghai.

She takes care of the customer's personal daily life, helps her with some work and drives her throughout the day. The woman lives alone in a large townhouse and felt lonely and insecure so she hired Sun.

In her former life as a professional athlete, Sun led a protected life. She had nothing to worry about except training and competitions. Before Sun's daily life was taken care of but, as a bodyguard, Sun finds that she has to look after her client the way she herself was once looked after. Living with her client in her villa, Sun's day begins with her waking the woman at 7 am, then driving her to her office, ordering lunch and afternoon tea for her, arranging meetings and, at the end of the day driving her home and checking that the villa is secure for the night.

"I couldn't adapt to this new role at the beginning when I had just left the sports team. Talking to clients I found myself wondering about their lives and habits and the way they spoke. I had to think hard to work out exactly what they meant when they said something. But usually clients don't care about the process - they just want results and that their orders are carried out."

It was a steep learning curve as she discovered that some clients didn't say anything when a bodyguard made a mistake (like sleeping in one morning) but could make her feel very guilty.

"I also got to learn that if I didn't properly understand what a client wanted I should find out instead of trying to guess. If I don't do exactly what a client wants the client will not be happy."

Women bodyguards often act as personal assistants at major events. Phots: Courtesy of the China Cityguard Security Service Group

Superstitious client

Like the time a client asked her to buy some goldfish. Without any details Sun went and bought 10 goldfish of the same color but when the superstitious client saw them she was really unhappy. Later she told Sun that there should have been an odd number of goldfish and that it was unlucky to have fish all of the same color.

"But this client also got annoyed if asked for details for some tasks. She wanted me to do things but never told me exactly what she wanted me to do."

Sun said there was a lot of pressure in her new job. "When I was doing sport I was very active and had a bright personality. But a bodyguard has to speak less and do more. Although the work is difficult, sometimes I am happy doing this and I am learning a lot."

Operations manager Ye said that all of the female bodyguards the company hired had extrovert personalities. "But after spending a period of time with their clients, they become more introverted and careful. They can't tell anyone their clients' secrets - they try not to know about their private lives. The less they know, the better."

Selecting female bodyguards is a complex process. All of the five women chosen by the company to date are at least 175 centimeters tall. Ye said when clients selected a bodyguard appearance was the first thing that mattered. "Taller bodyguards give a sense of security and smaller people don't look as if they could do the job. But this is a misapprehension by some of our Chinese clients - shorter or lighter bodyguards are just as strong and capable as tall and heavy people. However clients usually ask for tall and heavy bodyguards and we have to give them what they ask for."

Three of the company's female bodyguards were recruited from the provincial kickboxing team, another came from the Tagou Martial Arts School in Henan Province, and another was a police academy graduate.

Women bodyguards often act as personal assistants at major events. Phots: Courtesy of the China Cityguard Security Service Group

Highly trained

"We only recruit trained people. It's impossible for us to teach them everything from the beginning so we look for athletes or people who have been in the military or are highly trained.

"Our training mainly involves etiquette and manners, and operating methods. We don't have to train these people in martial arts but they still have to keep their skills up and they practice every week."

The female bodyguards are also coached in advanced driving and computers so that they can undertake basic tasks in an office. "Many of our clients don't want to have people following them around - they want bodyguards who are multi-skilled and can do some office work, speak a little English and drive. They have to be able to work as personal assistants," Ye said.

Shanghai woman Wu Min is a part-time bodyguard with the Shanghai Huben Special Escort Service Company. The 36-year-old has worked as a part-time bodyguard since she left the navy when she was 19. Unlike full-time bodyguards she has a new client every two or three months.

Her work often entails accompanying paymasters or CFOs to construction sites where they have to pay workers in cash. Some companies have construction projects scattered throughout the country and these assignments can take six weeks or so. The upside is that an assignment like this can earn her up to 100,000 yuan ($16,033).

Wu studied English, Japanese and Korean when she was in the navy and has since worked with clients from the UK, Australia, France and Iran. When she receives an assignment to accompany a client to an event or a meeting, she has to check over the venue, plan the route they will take, set a detailed timetable and know exactly where she will be standing. She looks on herself not so much as a bodyguard but as a personal assistant and interpreter - clients introduce her as their personal assistant. 

Women bodyguards often act as personal assistants at major events. Phots: Courtesy of the China Cityguard Security Service Group

Family and business disputes

Ye said that many clients were involved in disputes with families or businesses. "Our goal in training these female bodyguards is to ensure that they know that if there is a threat, once the client is safe they should escape rather than confront any trouble. Bodyguards can only offer protection - they cannot attack. These women are so good that two men would not be a problem for them to handle at the same time but we always tell them to keep physical contact with others to a minimum."

The movie The Bodyguard fixed the images of Kevin Costner as the bodyguard and Whitney Houston as the client in the public mind but romance only happens in the movies not in real life. The women bodyguards in Ye's company are not assigned for lengthy periods to male clients. "We learned about managing female bodyguards from overseas companies. If a female bodyguard spends a lot of time with a male client they might develop an unhealthy relationship which could affect their families and the company's operations and reputation."

Some female bodyguards have clients who are in the entertainment business. Ye's company has provided bodyguards to several stars including Tang Wei, Li Bingbing, Yang Mi, Gigi Leung, Lin Chi-ling and Sharon Stone. Ye said that when the actress model Lin Chi-ling was at an event in Xi'an last year two paparazzi tried to break into her dressing room. They were swiftly overpowered and thrown out by two of the company's female bodyguards.

Sometimes, male stars need female bodyguards to handle their female fans. "Wang Leehom was at an event in the Mercedes Benz Arena when a woman stripped naked in front of him. The male bodyguards couldn't touch her but our female bodyguards quickly wrapped her up in a blanket and took her away," Ye said.

Celebrity work

Wu Min has worked for several celebrities including actor Isabella Leong, Gong Li and Maggie Q. "Most of time these stars want the bodyguards to stop surprises and aggressive behavior by fans or paparazzi at big events. In their private lives they don't like being followed by bodyguards," Wu said.

Another strange task female bodyguards have been called to help with are the occasions when creditors send in women to try to extract money from a company's head office. "These women threaten to defecate or urinate in the reception area or offices unless they are paid. Male bodyguards, security guards and even the police don't want to touch them - but our female bodyguards can handle them, no problem," Ye said.

A full-time personal bodyguard from Sun's company can earn 100,000 yuan a year. When they go out on assignments they are equipped with a GPS device that lets the company know their exact position at all times. The company also buys insurance cover for them to ensure that if anything goes wrong there will be adequate compensation.

"Compared with male bodyguards, female bodyguards have a relatively shorter career. They can only work until their early 30s. But this company looks after their careers. We move them to sales or training when they no longer work as bodyguards," Ye said.