Chinese authorities have found a new culprit for the country's choking air pollution, beyond under-regulated coal plants and manufacturers. This year, they're going after fireworks.

Lighting fireworks to bring in the lunar New Year holiday, which begins this year on 31 January, is an old Chinese tradition, long thought to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. But this year, China's state media have cast the practice as an environmental faux pas, a sky-blackening indulgence. The state newswire Xinhua, citing an official organisation, urged families to use "flowers and electronic substitutes" instead.

Last year, wide swaths of China logged their worst air pollution in decades. Cities across the country have taken emergency measures to combat the smog, such as grounding flights and shutting schools. Beijing spent more than half of the year shrouded in a pea-soup haze.

Municipal governments have played their part in the anti-fireworks campaign. Beijing recently introduced a regulation requiring people who buy five or more boxes of fireworks to register with an official ID; the city will halt fireworks sales entirely if the pollution rises to dangerous levels. Shanghai cut the city's number of authorised firework sellers by 400. The government of Hangzhou, a historic city near Shanghai, has cancelled its annual New Year fireworks display, a decade-long tradition.

Chinese citizens wear masks in Beijing on another foggy day in January 2014. Critics of the government campaign blame unregulated industry and transport for the pollution. Photograph: Rolex Dela Pena/EPA

Chu Xumin, a worker at the Hangzhou-based NGO Green Zhejiang, called this year's anti-fireworks drive unprecedented. "Of course the media coverage has had some impact," he said. "But there's been a huge amount of smog in Hangzhou this year, and people want to do something about it."

Last September, China announced a plan to cut air pollution in major cities by 10% by 2017. Beijing has promised to allocate £75.8bn towards the goal, tightening restrictions on coal burning and vehicle emissions.

Fireworks do have an effect on air quality, albeit a temporary one – according to the state-run Global Times newspaper, pollution levels in Shanghai quintupled after the fireworks extravaganza marking the early hours of last year's celebrations.

Yet the anti-firework measures have proved controversial – many users on Sina Weibo, the country's most popular microblog, called it an attempt by authorities to shirk their environmental responsibility, akin to previous official claims that the smog was caused by street-side barbecues and stir-fry cooking. "You leave so many factories unregulated, and then you take it out on a national holiday?" wrote one user. "How many fireworks would it take to create as much as one takeoff in a private jet?" asked another.

Vehicles drive along a road as heavy fog engulfs Shijiazhuang, north China. Photograph: Chinafotopress/Getty Images

According to state broadcaster CCTV, the country's fireworks manufacturers have taken a hit from the campaign – some have stopped manufacturing fireworks altogether, instead switching to Christmas ornaments and medical devices.

Eva Zhong, the head of exports for Dancing Fireworks, a large fireworks producer in central China's Hunan province, said that while exports are booming this year, domestic sales have fallen sharply. Yet she defended her product: "The government has data – they know what the main reasons are for this country's air pollution, and they don't include fireworks," she said.