Monogamy, a common practice on the mainland, is being undermined by some of the rich and officials who are practicing bigamy, state media reported on Wednesday.

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Bigamy aggressively undermines China's policy of monogamy, stipulated in China's Constitution since the founding of the New China in 1949, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, quoting a member of the fifth session of the ninth People's Political Consultative Conference in southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Zhang Xiaoling.

Zhang's words came on the heels of the downfall of Qiu Xiaohua, the former head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), who was removed from his post and expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Xinhua said Qiu "took a large sums in bribes from enterprises, lived a decadent life and committed bigamy."

"Qiu's behavior severely violated Party rules and relevant laws, and was a vile social and political influence," a statement from the country's anti-corruption watchdog the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said.

"A spate of corrupt officials are found to have practiced bigamy," CPPCC member Luo Shufeng told Xinhua, adding that rampant discipline violations led to severe consequences.

Bigamy is when one individual is married to two people at the same time. Many countries have specific statutes outlawing bigamy, making any secondary marriage a crime.

Bigamy is prohibited under Article 3 of China's new Marriage Law, which was put into effect in 2006.

China has launched a series of campaigns to restrain the rich and officials from abusing their privilege.

The rich are not exempt from China's family planning program, which should be followed by all citizens, Zhang Weiqing, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission said, in response to media reports that some celebrities are choosing to have more than one child.

The spouse, children and relatives of a person appointed to the post of a leading official in a governmental Party unit cannot be employed as subordinate officials, accountants, auditors or human resource cadres in that unit during the official's tenure, according to a Xinhua report.