BEIJING -- The top disciplinary watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said that 210,000 people were punished for violating the Party code of conduct in the first half of 2017.

The figure was released Thursday on the website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Among the punished officials, 38 were at the provincial level or ministerial level, more than 1,000 at the prefecture level, over 8,400 at the county level and 129,000 others from rural areas and enterprises.

In 2016, 415,000 people were disciplined for violating the Party's code of conduct and other irregularities.