North China province appoints first supervisory chief

TAIYUAN -- North China's Shanxi Province appointed Ren Jianhua as the first director of the provincial supervisory commission.

The decision was made at the 12th provincial people's congress on Wednesday.

In December, China's top legislature endorsed a pilot program to reform the supervisory system by setting up powerful supervisory commissions with full authority over all officials.

The new commissions will integrate government supervision departments and corruption prevention bureaus, as well as divisions for handling bribery, dereliction of duty and prevention of duty-related crimes under the people's procuratorates.

China has begun to pilot supervisory system reform in Beijing and the provinces of Shanxi and Zhejiang.