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."