Zhou Qiang, head of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), delivered an annual work report to Chinese legislators in Beijing on the sidelines of the Two Sessions on Sunday. 

Here are the highlights of the annual work report:

In 2016, China's court system concluded 45,000 graft cases, implicating 63,000 people, including several serious cases such as Guo Boxiong, former vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, and Ling Jihua, former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee.

Strengthened punishment of crimes against women, children

Chinese courts concluded 5,335 criminal cases related to the trafficking and raping of women and children in 2016. The SPC issued guidance jointly with the Ministry of Education on preventing bullying on campus, and concluded 213 cases of on-campus bullying crimes.‍

Strengthened construction of judicial ability

Courts at all levels completed training for some 493,000 police officials in 2016. Tibet Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and Tibetan areas in provinces including Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai all enhanced the training of judges to boost their bilingual abilities.

Completed construction of a circuit court layout

Last year, China opened four more circuit courts of the Supreme People’s Court - in Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Chongqing and Xi’an. They are permanent trial organs sent by the SPC and will exercise power on behalf of the SPC. The decision to establish the circuit courts is a major step in advancing judicial reform. The first two circuit courts have already heard 4,721 cases of various types and concluded 4,573 of them.

Fifty courts across the country have taken part in the country’s juror system reform. Over 220,000 jurors have participated in over three million court trials in the past year, accounting for 77.2 percent of the total number of court cases of ordinary procedure.‍