Trained to guard the rich
Splattered with dirt, students at China’s Tianjiao bodyguard school huddle together for warmth as they sleep during a break in high-intensity training.
Studying at the academy on the outskirts of Beijing is not for the faint-hearted. Trainees go through gruelling exercises, and can find themselves crawling through mud or being drenched with water as they are taught to protect China’s rich and famous.
Students carry a tree trunk over their heads as they are put through their paces at Tianjiao.
Blood congeals on a student's finger during training.
A trainee grimaces as he pulls himself along the ground.
A student opens her cufflinks with her teeth after crawling through the mud.
Instructors kick a young man who was ready to give up during high-intensity training.
Students carry a fellow trainee who passed out.
A trainee lies on the ground after being drenched with water.
A student reacts to having water poured over him.
Blood drips from a student's nose as he takes part in a long-distance run.
Young men hold replica 95 semi-automatic rifles as they go through training.
A student aims her replica gun.
An instructor hits a trainee with a replica weapon.
Students take part in training at a field managed by the military.
Students practice protecting their employers at the training field.
Students run over the bodies of their fellow trainees.
Young men point replica pistols at one another during an exercise.
Trainees practice helping their employer escape into a car.
Bodyguard student Ding Kun stands watch in a villa during field training.
Han, a bodyguard who was hired from Tianjiao, checks his earphone as his employer Zhang gets ready to leave home.
Han helps his employers to make dinner.
