GUANGZHOU, March 14 -- The deputy chief of Wukan Village in south China has been detained for alleged bribery, the information office of Lufeng City, which administers the village, announced on Friday.

Yang Semao, deputy chief of the village committee, was taken away by investigation authorities Thursday afternoon on suspicion of taking bribes in public projects in the village.

According to the Lufeng city government, the village launched an election on Tuesday and new leadership consisting of 11 members will be formed earlier next month.

Wukan grabbed international headlines in 2011 when the small village's residents staged three rounds of large-scale rallies over four months to protest village officials' alleged illegal land grabs, corruption and violations of financing and election rules. Order was restored in December of the same year after a senior provincial official held direct talks with villagers.

Yang was elected in re-elections held earlier in 2012. Later in April, several former officials from the village were expelled from the Communist Party of China over corruption and election-rigging charges.

Over the past two years, more than 5,000 mu (330 hectares) of land determined to have been illegally transferred, allotted, or left idle has been returned to the village. Governments at the provincial and city levels also earmarked tens of millions of yuan for improving villagers' livelihood.