The government also tightened measures to discipline its legal enforcement officials in 2009, in the wake of the widespread disbelief and outrage of netizens toward the official explanation that a 24-year-old man died from serious brain injuries while playing hide-and-seek in a detention center in Yunnan province.

"Internet anti-corruption" also became a popular phrase in 2009, referring to netizens' oversight of officials' acts of corruption, the report said.

Zhou Jiugeng, a real estate management bureau chief in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, whose taste for expensive cigarettes and large cars triggered an online debate in China, has been sent to jail for corruption.

The report also said the proportion of "major and key cases" saw an uphill trend in 2009, with more senior officials involved in cases of corruption.

The corruption frequently happened in the field of construction projects, and the amount of money involved also sharply jumped, it said.