China's top political meetings to go ahead without 36 key figures snared in graft crackdown

This week's annual meetings of China's top political bodies are likely to be overshadowed by the sweeping anti-graft campaign which has taken down an unprecedented number of delegates and senior officials in just one year.

One of the highest profile figures has been Ling Jihua, the former aide of retired president Hu Jintao. Ling, who is under investigation for suspected corruption, was yesterday stripped of his membership in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He had been one of the advisory body's deputy chairmen.

Other senior cadres who will be absent include former CPPCC vice-chairman Su Rong, ex-China Resources chief Song Lin and former Guangdong political advisory body chairman Zhu Mingguo . Since last year's sessions, nine CPPCC members have been removed, eight of which are suspected of corruption, while 27 delegates of the National People's Congress (NPC) who are also the focus of graft investigations won't attend the session.

It's a record change-up since the Communist Party came to power.

Between 2008 and 2013, a total of eight CPPCC members and 18 NPC delegates either quit or were removed, including ex- chairman of Guangdong's political advisory body Chen Shaoji This year, his successor Zhu Mingguo was also moved aside after being suspected of graft - one of a dozen delegates absent from the provincial session.

Xi's crackdown has hit the southern province harder than anywhere else. Some 11,315 cadres from the province, including 95 department-level officials, have fallen under investigation. That compares to 38 department-level officials probed in 2013.