Six cities across Hebei, Henan and Shandong provinces have been named and shamed for failing to effectively tackle air pollution.

Twelve of 18 cities inspected so far in a monthlong crackdown by the Ministry of Environmental Protection have also been exposed for failing to deal with massive emissions violations by polluting companies.

Among the six that were shamed, the government of Jinan, capital of Shandong, for example, did not assess the performance of districts and departments in reducing air pollution last year, while plants in heavily polluted industries like cement and iron processing were not required to suspend production in winter, according to a statement from the ministry on Sunday.