China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang is being investigated for suspected "serious disciplinary violation", state media say.
The news confirms rumours about the hugely powerful former minister, who has not been seen in public for months.
Mr Zhou headed China's Ministry of Public Security and was a member of the top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee.
The move to target him will send shockwaves through the political elite.
He is the most senior Chinese official to be investigated since the Gang of Four - which included the wife of late leader Mao Zedong - in the early 1980s.
Zhou Yongkang retired in late 2012, as Xi Jinping took over from Hu Jintao as the Communist Party leader and China's president.
Since the transition, Mr Xi has introduced a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption within the party, warning graft could threaten the organisation's very survival.
Bo Xilai allyIn a brief statement, state-run Xinhua news agency said the investigation would be conducted by the Communist Party's corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
No timescale was given for the probe, which has been widely expected.
Several individuals believed to have had close ties to Mr Zhou have also been targeted in corruption investigations in recent months.
Carrie Gracie, BBC China editorSince taking power in 2012, it's been clear that President Xi Jinping was determined to consolidate his own power and remove opponents to economic reform.
But he also wanted to clean up the image of a ruling party which conceded that rampant corruption was the greatest threat to survival.
An anti-corruption drive has served all three objectives and conveniently boosted Mr Xi's public popularity.
But he always said he was targeting the tigers as well as the flies and it was important to demonstrate that he could defeat resistance at the very top.
Which makes today's long-awaited announcement about the disgrace and downfall of Zhou Yongkang an important signal of Mr Xi's supremacy but a blow to the reputation of the party he leads.
Mr Zhou's career saw him head both the ministry charged with overseeing domestic security and China's largest energy company, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
He was also the party's top official in Sichuan province.
Allies of his from all three areas are now the subject of various investigations.
Only a handful of people serve on the Politburo Standing Committee (in Mr Zhou's time nine, currently the number is seven) and they are seen as the most powerful individuals in China.
Zhou Yongkang was also an ally of Bo Xilai, the one-time high-flying former Chongqing party chief who was jailed last year.
In initial reactions observed on Weibo, China's Twitter-like micro-blogging platform, netizens appeared to praise the announcement.
Thumbs-up emoticons, "Got him!" and "Good job!" were just some of the more popular responses.
Many also made reference to "tigers", a reference to Mr Xi's promise to include high-ranking officials in his anti-corruption campaign.
"Now that is what I call an old tiger. Good job Mr Xi," said one user. "This is just one tiger out of many, to catch tigers one must have determination, don't stop now!" said another.
It was not clear to what extent officials were censoring negative comments, as has been done in the past.
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