Focus of graft investigation moves to coal-rich Shanxi

The corruption investigation into Shen Weichen, the former head of the China Association for Science and Technology, suggests the top leadership's anti-graft campaign is targeting officials with connections to the coal-producing province of Shanxi, according to analysts and political observers.

At least eight Communist Party officials from the resource-rich province have been detained for alleged "serious violations of discipline" this year, an expression that is often used to describe corruption.

Shen, aged 57, was formerly the top official in the provincial capital Taiyuan.

Others detained from the province include the vice-chairman of the People's Congress standing committee Jin Daoming and Ding Xuefeng, the former mayor of Luliang.

Sources said some of the detained officials were implicated in the corruption investigation into the former security tsar Zhou Yongkang.