News Guide: Rise and fall of China’s Zhou Yongkang

FILE - In this Wednesday Nov. 14, 2012 file photo, Zhou Yongkang, the then Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of security, raises his hand to show approval for a work report during the closing ceremony for the 18th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. China's official Xinhua News Agency says the country's former security chief, Zhou Yongkang, has been expelled from the Communist Party. Xinhua said the decision was made Friday Dec. 5, 2014 at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the party's Central Committee. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File) FILE - In this Wednesday Nov. 14, 2012 file photo, Zhou Yongkang, the then Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of security, raises his hand to show approval for a work report during the closing ceremony for the 18th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. China's official Xinhua News Agency says the country's former security chief, Zhou Yongkang, has been expelled from the Communist Party. Xinhua said the decision was made Friday Dec. 5, 2014 at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the party's Central Committee. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

By Associated Press December 7, 2014 4 min read

BEIJING (AP) – Chinese authorities announced that they have arrested Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the all-powerful Standing Committee of the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo, on accusations including taking bribes and leaking state secrets.

Zhou is the highest-level official to fall in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, which began in late 2012.

Here’s a look at Zhou’s rise and fall, and what could be in store for the man who once oversaw China’s vast apparatus of police, state security, prosecuting offices and courts.

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EARLY YEARS