University plays down links to fallen tiger

Alma mater shows support for probe as mighty official falls

The China University of Petroleum, the alma mater of former security chief Zhou Yongkang, has deleted news reports about the fallen official in the wake of the recent announcements that he is being probed for corruption.

On the website for the school's Qingdao campus, no news reports about Zhou could be found on Monday, while on the university's Beijing campus website, there were still 11 news reports about Zhou or containing his name.

But previously published news reports with pictures about Zhou's visit to the university's Beijing campus on its 60th anniversary could not be found on the university's Beijing campus website.

The inscription Zhou once wrote, which was written alongside the school motto on a wall at the Beijing campus, was covered by a model of a rocket, a student at the university confirmed with the Global Times on Monday.

Zhou was once a distinguished alumnus of the university, which became quite famous when Zhou paid a personal visit to the campus on the 60th anniversary of its founding - which was reportedly his last public outing.

Zhou attended the university from 1961 to 1996, majoring in geophysical exploration.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) announced on July 29 the decision to investigate Zhou, a former Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, for suspected serious disciplinary violations.

The university's move came after many voiced support for the probe.

"The removal was inked strongly with the color of Chinese politics," said Zhang Xixian, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Zhang said the move reflected the university's support for the Party's decision.

There have been a number of instances of groups distancing themselves from previously powerful men when they began facing corruption probes.

Bo Xilai, former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the CPC and former member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power in September 2013.

After the sentence, his signature campaign of singing revolutionary songs disappeared in Chongqing.

A similar thing happened when Wang Lijun, Chongqing's former vice mayor and former police chief, was sentenced to 15 years in jail in September 2012 for bribe-taking and bending the law for selfish ends - his inscriptions at the Chongqing police station and all his photos were removed from the premises.

In another case, several departments in Jiangxi province removed plaques with sayings from Chen Anzhong, the deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress, after he was expelled from the CPC and public office for serious disciplinary and legal violations in May this year.