Former CPC senior publicity official under investigation

Cai Fuchao, the former deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is under investigation for suspected severe violations of Party discipline and national laws, China's top anti-corruption watchdogs announced on Wednesday.

The announcement was made online by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision. No further details were released.

Publicly available information indicates that Cai, 75, a native of Beijing, began his career at a packing factory in the capital in July 1971 and joined the CPC in April 1979. In late 1979, he became a journalist for the Beijing Daily and worked in the media from December 1979 to June 1998.

From January 2008 to February 2011, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, director of its publicity department, and vice-mayor of the city. He then served as deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, director general of the former State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, and head of the National Copyright Administration.