In July, just as Qizhala was being expelled from the Communist Party, Liu Hui, the ethnic Hui former chairwoman of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, came under investigation for alleged corruption.
The three cadres are among just a handful of senior officials from ethnic community groups to have fallen from grace in China in the past few decades.
Observers say that the downfall of the officials reflects a broader push for political discipline, signalling that ethnicity-based leniency in elite politics no longer applies.
Unlike provinces, which have governors, autonomous regions are overseen by chairmen or chairwomen. The positions are second only to the party chief of the region and have generally been set aside for people from non-Han communities as part of efforts to promote ethnic inclusion. The overwhelming majority of regional party secretaries have been Han.
