How the Mighty Have Fallen

In late June, the Chinese Communist Party expelled Xu Caihou, who before his retirement in 2012 was one of the highest ranking members of China’s military the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Xu had been accused of taking bribes, and "gravely violating party discipline." A former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, the body that oversees the PLA, Xu is the highest ranking military official to be publically accused of corruption in at least 35 years. Simply put, this is a big deal.

Xu’s ouster comes on the heels of a host of dismissals and investigations of other occupants of top political offices since Xi Jinping became China’s leader a year and a half ago. A top Chinese investigative magazine Caixin recently published a graphic list of these key targets in Xi’s anti-corruption campaign; Chinafile has adapted it, adding its own research, to create this interactive timeline.



Ages of the officials are given as of the year they left office.