In November, when Hebei province took strict measures to reduce air pollutant emissions during the APEC meeting, seven of its cities still ranked in the top 10 domestic cities with the worst air pollution for the month, the national environment watchdog said on Thursday.

Those seven cities were Baoding, Xingtai, Tangshan, Hengshui, Shijiazhuang, Langfang and Handan. Baoding, the southern neighbor of Beijing, had the worst air in the province in November, based on a monthly report covering 74 major cities, which was released on Thursday by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Compared to a year earlier, the 13 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region had more days in November when their air quality exceeded national standards, an increase of 2.9 percent.

In the first 12 days in the region, strict limits on polluting industries, construction sites and vehicle exhaust emissions resulted in improved air quality. However, the heating season, which started on Nov 15 in the region, worsened the air quality greatly. The region was also without wind for days, leading to serious air pollution, the ministry said.

In Beijing, residents experienced five days of severe air pollution, worse than during November 2013, the ministry said.