FOR MONTHS, AS HIS RELATIVES AND FORMER underlings were caught up in the anti-graft dragnet one after another, the fate of Zhou Yongkang was at the center of a guessing game.

As the rampant wrongdoings of those around him were brought into the daylight, people were waiting with eager anticipation to see whether or not Zhou himself would ultimately prove to be involved.

After all, before him, no one at the very core of the national leadership, in the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, had been the official subject of disciplinary action. Whether or not the anti-corruption probes would stop short of touching Zhou was viewed as a touchstone of President Xi Jinping's vow to take on the "tigers" as well as the "flies".