A special section on the website of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC that exposes Party rule breakers. [Photo/IC]

More than 80,000 officials have been punished for breaking the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s anti-extravagance rules, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The top anti-graft watchdog, the Commission for Discipline Inspection, released the figure prior to the second anniversary of the "eight-point rules" implementation on Thursday.

The Central Committee of the CPC issued the rules, requiring Party members and government officials to get closer to the people, practice frugality and clean up undesirable work styles, after taking office in 2012.

As of the end of September this year there have been 62,404 cases of violations, according to the report.

Some 35,599 were related to officials'misuse of public vehicles, funds and holding extravagant meetings and weddings. The rest were breaches of work rules, such as playing computer games during working hours or absence without leave.

The Commission for Discipline Inspection in February proposed a regulation ordering watchdogs across the country to publicize names of anti-graft inspectors breaking the rules.

Exposure was seen as putting pressure on officials and also serve as a warning and deterrent to stop potential violators of Party rules, Zhuang Deshui, a researcher on clean-governance at Peking University, told the newspaper.

But he suggested methods be improved to cope with new forms of rule breaches. "For example, the use of gift cards or electric coupons is more difficult to detect. Such acts shall be carefully examined and punished as well," he said.