Five new cadres assigned to Shanxi, all from outside the province

Five senior officials have been appointed by the central government to fill posts in Shanxi after nearly half the resource-rich province's leadership were detained for alleged corruption.

All are from outside Shanxi, with the Communist Party shunning the promotion of local officials. The move was announced yesterday at a party committee meeting in the province, the People's Daily reported.

The new members of Shanxi's powerful standing committee all have long experience with central government agencies in Beijing, according to their public profiles.

Among the raft of senior officials under investigation for alleged corruption are the province's political advisory body's vice-chairman Ling Zhengce, who was detained in June. Executives in the coal industry have also been held.

Wang Yukai, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said the scale of the political changes in personnel was almost unprecedented.

"This is a very rare phenomenon since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949," he said.