Wan Qingliang, former Party chief of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, cried and pleaded guilty to charges of accepting bribes and neglect of duty on Friday.

Wan, born in 1964, was tried at Nanning Intermediate People's Court in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region for taking bribes worth more than 111.25 million yuan ($17.25 million) from 15 companies and individuals while in office.

In a single case alone, Wan accepted bribes valued at more than 50 million from a company in the Shenzhen special economic zone after he had used his power to help the company win a government development project. In another single case, Wan took bribes valued at 37.9 million yuan from another company.

Wan, a native of Wuhua county, Guangdong province, was a former member of the standing committee of the Guangdong provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.

During his court appearance, Wan admitted accepting the large sum of bribes and promised to mend his ways.

"I have hurt the Party, the people and my family. And I hope the court can give me another chance," he told the court.

Wan was said to have a good attitude and actively reported major crimes committed by others after he was put under investigation.

Following Wan's detention, Li Junfu, former Party chief and director of the Guangzhou Bureau of Land Resources and Housing Management, Yang Yanwen, former Party chief of Guangzhou's Huadu district, and a number of senior Party and government officials in Guangzhou who were reported to have close contact with Wan were placed under investigation for serious violation of Party discipline and allegedly accepting bribes.

The court did not issue a verdict on Friday. Hong Biao, vice-president of Nanning Intermediate People's Court, acted as the presiding judge.

Wan, who was reported to have mistresses and sought an extravagant and wasteful life, had been expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office for corruption last year.

Wan was found to have visited private clubs and attended luxury banquets many times, even after anti-graft authorities banned such activities.

Wan, the highest-ranking official to be sacked in the southern metropolis in recent years, was once regarded as a rising political star in Guangdong province, one of the country's economic powerhouses.

Wan was the youngest mayor of Guangzhou in the city's history. He was deputy governor of Guangdong before he was elected as Guangzhou mayor in April 2010.

Wan was also known for his "determination to fight corruption", as he used to always ask his officials in meetings to be clean and honest.