By Xinhua Writer Fu Shuangqi

    BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- With new ways to make money come new means of corruption. So it has proven in 21st century China, where the wider ownership of cars, stock and property has provided corrupt officials with fresh opportunities for graft.

    But the fight against bribery has become more sophisticated, too, and over the past year, it has expanded from punishment to prevention. There is a new anti-corruption body with wide-ranging powers, while a series of directives on graft have refined the definition of bribery.

    The result has been a series of high-ranking officials sent to jail -- and in some cases, to their deaths -- to public satisfaction.

    The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which initiates investigations of alleged corrupt officials, last year issued a crucial regulation that clarifies the "new forms" of bribery.

    These include many imaginative and lucrative arrangements that don't necessarily involve a pile of cash changing hands: accepting financial instruments as gifts; buying real estate or cars at artificially low prices; laundering bribes by gambling; doing favors in return for their own post-retirement jobs, and seeking gains through specially-related persons.

    The regulations then led to a judicial explanation that has helped convict officials who take disguised bribes. One such case was that of the former transport chief of eastern Zhejiang Province, Zhao Zhanqi, who used his position to benefit his mistress. He was sentenced life in prison in July for receiving 6.2 million yuan (840,000 U.S. dollars) in bribes, including 550,000 yuan that the mistress received.

    HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR NEW ANTI-GRAFT BODY

    Expectations are also high for the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention (NCBP), the first department of this kind in China, which was established in September last year.

    Its founding showed that the country's anti-graft system has shifted from penalties and crackdowns to a comprehensive approach.

    Chinese President Hu Jintao confirmed this in his keynote speech at the 17th CPC National Congress, the most important political document of the year. "We will fight corruption in a comprehensive way, address both its symptoms and root causes and combine punishment with prevention, with the emphasis on prevention," he said.

    The NCBP is only a few months old and low key but its role has attracted much attention.