Zhou Jiangyong, Party chief of Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province Photo: cnsphoto

Zhou Jiangyong, Party chief of Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province, is under investigation for suspected serious violations of Party disciplinary rules and laws, said China's top anti-graft agency on Saturday.

Zhou is the secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) city committee of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, and is under both disciplinary and supervisory investigations by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Supervisory Commission, according to the CCDI. 

The 54-year-old Zhou is the most senior official in Zhejiang to be investigated in recent years, and the first senior official investigated in the province since the 19th CPC National Congress was held in 2017. 

On Saturday night, the standing committee of the CPC Hangzhou city committee held a meeting on the case, indicating that lessons should be thoroughly learned to strengthen the supervision of the leaders and the leading team, Hangzhou Daily, a local media outlet, reported on Sunday. 

On Sunday morning, the Hangzhou city Party committee once again held a meeting of all of the city's officials on the matter, stressing the need to resolutely shoulder the responsibility of managing the Party affairs, and unswervingly bring the Party's comprehensive strict governance to a higher level.  

The CCDI announcement came just one day after Zhou chaired a meeting on coal consumption and carbon neutrality with other city leaders on Friday afternoon, according to Hangzhou Daily.

Zhou started his career as a high school teacher in Ningbo, another city in Zhejiang, before quickly taking up a political career. Before becoming the Party chief of Hangzhou in May 2018, Zhou held similar positions in the cities of Zhoushan and Wenzhou. He is also a delegate to the 19th CPC National Congress. He spent his entire political career in Zhejiang.

Being the youngest member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Zhou has always had a high-profile political career. In May, when three leopards escaped from a safari park in Hangzhou, Zhou went to the scene several times to monitor the situation, drawing public attention. 

The investigation into Zhou came two days after another official in the province came under a cloud. On Thursday, Ma Xiaohui, former Party secretary of Huzhou, "voluntarily surrendered" for suspected "serious violations of discipline and law."

Hangzhou is a top city in China that has achieved high-speed development in recent years. It is the capital of Zhejiang, China's fourth-largest province in terms of GDP and home to Alibaba, one of China's biggest companies. In 2020, the UN's first China-based big data research institute was established in the city.