China's courts handled a rapid rise of corruption cases last year as the country maintained high pressure against graft.

A total of 45,000 graft-related cases were heard by courts at all levels last year, with about 63,000 people convicted, Chief Justice Zhou Qiang said while giving a work report to the annual session of the National People's Congress, the top legislature.

Both numbers were up by about 30 percent compared with figures he gave in last year's report.