Jiangxi province is stepping up efforts to foster emerging and future industries while advancing green development, as it accelerates the building of a modern industrial system that reflects the province's distinctive strengths, deputies to the National People's Congress said at a news briefing during the ongoing two sessions.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), Jiangxi's GDP maintained an average annual growth rate of about 5.5 percent. Last year, revenue from the province's major industrial enterprises — those with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) — ranked 10th nationwide for the first time.

"Jiangxi is making greater efforts to advance modernization and accelerate the building of a modern industrial system with local characteristics and advantages," Yin Hong, a deputy to the 14th NPC and secretary of the Communist Party of China Jiangxi Provincial Committee and Party secretary of the province, said.

The province has been actively cultivating emerging and future industries. In July last year, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University completed Jiangxi's first clinical research surgery using brain-computer interface technology.

At the beginning of 2026, construction is underway at the Digital Economy Industrial Park in Ganjiang New Area of Nanchang, where NeuroXess broke ground on the country's first "super factory" for implantable brain-computer interfaces.

Jiangxi is also strengthening its transportation and advanced manufacturing sectors. In 2025, railway and waterway freight volume in the province reached 240 million metric tons, up 60 percent from 2020.

Earlier this year, the world's largest pure-electric intelligent cargo vessel with a capacity of 10,000 tons — also the first of its kind in China — was launched in the port city of Jiujiang.

"Jiangxi is promoting the development of future industries such as embodied intelligence and biomanufacturing, while advancing the application of brain-computer interface technologies in treating neurological and other related diseases," Ye Jianchun, a deputy to the 14th NPC and governor of Jiangxi province, said.

These efforts will help accelerate Jiangxi's transformation and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, he added.

"With its mountains, rivers and clean air, Jiangxi has great potential to expand its health and wellness industries alongside advances in brain-computer interface technologies," he said.

As a national ecological civilization pilot zone, Jiangxi has remained committed to prioritizing ecological protection and green development.

In 2025, the province recorded an average PM2.5 concentration of 27.4 micrograms per cubic meter, while the proportion of days with good air quality reached 95.5 percent.

Both indicators ranked first among the six provinces in central China. The annual average PM2.5 concentration has remained in the "20-plus" range for five consecutive years.

"Jiangxi is blessed with beautiful mountains, rivers and vast wetlands. We will firmly uphold the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and stay committed to an ecological and green development path," Wan Guangming, a deputy to the 14th NPC, said.

Meanwhile, Jiangxi's nonferrous metals industry achieved a historic breakthrough in 2025, with revenue surpassing 1 trillion yuan for the first time, becoming the province's second trillion-yuan industrial cluster after the electronic information sector.