BEIJING -- A total of 627,000 Chinese officials, including 36 at the provincial and ministerial level, were penalized for violating Communist Party of China (CPC) discipline and laws in 2021, according to the country's top anti-graft body.

Disciplinary and supervisory authorities across the country received more than 3.86 million public tip-offs and initiated investigations into 631,000 cases during the year, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission said in a statement online Friday.

Those punished also included 3,024 at the prefecture level and 25,000 at the county level, the statement read.