BEIJING -- A total of 240,000 people, including 13 officials at provincial or ministerial levels, have been punished by disciplinary and supervisory authorities in the first half of this year. They were found to have breached discipline or were involved in other misconduct.

The Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission said in a statement Friday that disciplinary inspection commissions and supervision agencies nationwide received over 1.4 million reports and letters complaining of such violations in the first half of this year. Investigations were conducted in 286,000 cases.

Those punished also included 1,314 officials at prefecture or equivalent levels as well as over 150,000 working for enterprises and rural organizations.