In the course of a special campaign to enforce the environmental law between April and November, altogether 6,462 heavy polluters were ordered to cease operations, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Another 3,861 enterprises were closed down temporarily until they had brought their facilities in line with the regulations, according to the agency, which cited the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

The same nationwide operation also led to 155 people being punished, Xinhua said.

"The operation has checked the rampant spread of pollution to some degree, but pollution in the country is still very serious," said Wang Jirong, deputy head of SEPA.

She said she was worried many of the factories would resume production with the tacit support of local governments who care more about economic growth figures than the environment.

SEPA is one of China's most understaffed bureaucracies, but it has earned itself a reputation for activism with its no-nonsense attitude to pollution.

Earlier this year, it ordered a halt to 30 construction projects that had failed to file an environmental impact assessment, as the law stated they should have.

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