Xinhua Insight: Four years on, Xi's war on corruption is more than hunting tigers, flies (1)

With just over a month until Chinese New Year, taxi driver Mr. Huang is excited about his Spring Festival vacation in Thailand. "Bangkok first, then Phuket. A little quality time with my wife and daughter," Huang said.

Huang never had the "luxury" of spending quality time with his family until three years ago.

"Spring Festival used to be one of the busiest time of year for me," he recalled, "People would book my car for the day and I would drive them across the city with my trunk full to bursting with bags of all sizes. I could earn hundreds of yuan a day," he said.

"Gifts they were -- or so they revealed, accidentally, of course. They were quite secretive about it," Huang jeered, "Corruption."

These day-trip gifters stopped using his services three years ago, coincidentally not long after the launch of Xi Jinping's anti-graft campaign.

"At first, I thought the dust would settle and the campaign would fade away, and New Year's 'routine' would return soon enough. I was wrong," he said.

Four years into the campaign, which has caught numerous corrupt "tigers" and "flies" -- senior officials and low-ranking cadres - the sweeping drive spearheaded by Xi is showing little sign of losing steam.

HUNTING TIGER, SWATTING FLIES

Xi has shown greater grit and determination to fulfill his promise on stamping out notorious corruption ever since he took the helm of the world's largest political party in November 2012.

He has warned his fellow Communist Party of China (CPC) cadres of what he saw as endemic corruption eating away at the Party's authority and effectiveness.

"[And] there are also many pressing problems within the Party that need to be resolved, particularly corruption, being divorced from the people, going through formalities and bureaucratism caused by some Party officials," he said. "The whole Party must stay on full alert."

Early the next month, the first senior official fell from grace. A former deputy Party secretary of Sichuan Province, Li Chuncheng held the ominous title of being the first tiger to be caught by the campaign.

Many have followed in the ensuing four years.

The sheer scope of the investigation and the fact that being a member of the upper echelons did not make you exempt explains why Xi's campaign has won him popularity among the public.

According to the head of the CPC Central Committee for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), Wang Qishan, more than one million people have been punished for violating CPC and government rules since November 2012. In total, 222 centrally administered officials have been investigated, with 212 receiving disciplinary punishment.

Among the tigers felled by the campaign were Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee; Bo Xilai, former Party chief of Chongqing Municipality; Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, two former top generals and both vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission; Ling Jihua and Su Rong, former vice chairmen of China's top political advisory body.

As Xi once put it, "All people are equal before the law and regulations, and the enforcement of such rules allows no privilege or exception."

The hunt has even expanded overseas as China strives to hunt down its economic fugitives.

Over 2,400 fugitives have been brought back to China from around 70 countries and regions across the globe since the launch of operation "Sky Net" in 2014, with 8.5 billion yuan (around 1.2 billion U.S. dollars) recovered.

CAGE OF REGULATIONS

Many say this anti-graft drive will be a hallmark of Xi's time in office, as he has proved that the campaign is far from short-lived.

One of the more recent tigers caught is former deputy Party chief of Beijing Lyu Xiwen. She was indicted for accepting bribes worth 2.73 million U.S. dollars and taking advantage of her official positions to help others obtain government funds and land for construction from 2001 to 2015.

Her trial followed a string of other high-ranking officials taking the stand last month. In one case, Zhu Mingguo, former head of the political advisory body in the southern province of Guangdong, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes and holding "a huge amount" of assets from unidentified sources.

Flies also continue to be swatted, as evidenced by terse, and almost regular, reports posted by courts, procurators and the CCDI. (mo