In cities such as Dongguan and Huizhou, corruption investigations are widening against local cadres – often former officials who are accused of using their positions to take money from companies in exchange for special favors.

Xu Jianhua, who served as Dongguan’s party secretary from 2011 to 2016, became the latest official to be placed under investigation, with the provincial disciplinary committee announcing on Wednesday that he had been detained.

Xu, 66, is suspected of committing “serious violations of discipline and law” – a euphemism for corruption.

Xu’s detention comes just two months after Zhong Ganquan, the former deputy head of Dongguan’s political advisory body, was placed under investigation.

Zhong, a Dongguan local who for decades headed the city’s Humen district known for its textile and electronics exporters, became famous as the “man who knows everything.”