A trainee bodyguard of the Genghis Security Academy is reprimanded by instructor Marco Borges (2nd R) following an ambush exercise at an army training ground on the outskirts of Beijing on January 18. In sub-zero winter cold, trainees at an army base outside Beijing wake before dawn to practise martial arts and evasive driving, under the instruction of a Portuguese ex-special forces soldier. The roughly 40-strong group -- mostly with previous military experience -- are on a commercial training course to become elite bodyguards protecting Chinese firms as they seek ever more resources and contracts in some of the world's most unstable regions.

Trainee bodyguards performing an exercise at the Genghis Security Academy in Beijing.

Trainees of a bodyguard camp stand with taped masks on their heads before a freestyle blind wrestling training session at the Genghis Security Academy in Beijing. Nearly three dozen recruits took target practice and conducted evasion and extraction drills as part of preparations to provide security for the growing number of Chinese businesses investing in turbulent regions of Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. The academy is one of several bodyguard schools in China that offer protection for the country's growing number of wealthy businessmen and women, but in its case, the focus is on the international market.

A trainee of a bodyguard camp sheds tears as he is briefed on his performance after the day's training by a coach at the Genghis Security Academy in Beijing.