Life term for China land minister

The Communist Party is struggling to curb corruption

A former Chinese government minister has been jailed for life for taking half a million dollars in bribes.

A Beijing court convicted Tian Fengshan of accepting bribes over eight years while a minister and regional official.

China is trying to crack down on corruption, amid fears it could undermine Communist Party rule.

Tian is said to have escaped the death penalty as he confessed and repented. But the verdict will doubtless be used as a warning to others, observers say.

Nearly 50,000 Chinese officials have been punished for corruption over the past two years.

'Took advantage'

Tian Fengshan is one of the most prominent to be accused of graft since a senior lawmaker was executed in 2000.

He was governor of north-east Heilongjiang province from 1995-2000 and then a minister until 2003, when he was reportedly fired.

Beijing Number 2 Intermediate People's Court said he "took advantage of his position to profit while a servant of the nation", in a ruling quoted by China's Xinhua news agency.

He was convicted of accepting about 4.36 million yuan ($538,000) in bribes, but the precise details of his crimes were not revealed.

Tian served as the powerful land and resources minister for three years in a country where all land is owned by the state and the Communist Party has the final say on how it is used.

While this has in the past been an important factor in the country's rapid economic growth - as it allows the government to requisition land for development - it has also led to corruption on an enormous scale.

'Lavish parties'

The government has launched a series of campaigns to crack down on corrupt officials.

The Communist Party says the number of corruption cases has fallen but there are more high-profile cases involving the embezzlement of larger amounts of money, the BBC's Louisa Lim in Beijing reports.

A recent investigation by the National Audit Office found that $36bn of public funds had been misused in the first 11 months of the year alone.

Also, all party and government officials have been ordered to stop spending public funds on lavish banquets during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday.

Local officials are advised that they should instead visit retired soldiers, poverty stricken old people and jobless people.