Zhu Liping, a former eminent policewoman, who had been in bodyguard service in Beijing, will start her post guarding a kindergarten in the city's eastern Chaoyang district, from November 30.

According to a contract signed on Tuesday by the Beijing Capital Bodyguard Security Consultant Co. Ltd. and the care center, Zhu will go on security patrol and organize in the kindergarten mock anti-terror and emergency exercises on a regular basis.

Different from other security guards, Zhu, a former policewomen, has undergone at least three-years of intensive training. She will wear plain clothes and carry no weapon.

"Since all of our attendants are female, it will be more easy for the children to accept a female bodyguard auntie," said the head of the kindergarten. "Though the expense is relatively high, we'll not let the parents shoulder the burden."

The annual salary of this special bodyguard is expected to reach 96,000 yuan (US$11,600).

Cui Fengxian, president with the bodyguard company, said he planned to let all the 30 female bodyguards in his firm to safeguard kindergartens in Beijing. So far, he added, 13 kindergartens have expressed interest in signing a contract.

A series of grizzly attacks on kindergarten kids in China have spurred public concern.

A five-year-old boy and his teacher were killed at a Beijing kindergarten in October. The boy's body was found stuffed in a washing machine.

In September, a man with a knife and homemade bombs attacked 28 children in a kindergarten in Suzhou, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province. No one was killed.

In August, a janitor stabbed 15 kids and three teachers at a Beijing kindergarten, killing one child.

Accidents also rang alarms. In August, a kindergarten in central China's Henan Province collapsed, killing two kids and leaving 28 others in hospital for further treatment and medical observation.

Also in Henan, a middle school classroom collapsed in July, leaving 20 students injured.

Currently, Beijing has 1,430 kindergartens with about 200,000 children.


(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2004)