From cultural heritage to technological innovation and industrial transformation, ancient pavilions have been revitalized, traditional prescriptions have been modernized, and agricultural yields have soared... Across Jiangxi province in east China, innovation is thriving at every turn.

Farming gets more intelligent

At the selenium-rich chili industrial park in Shanghu town, Gao'an city, rows of chili varieties greet visitors. This industrial park with an area of 2,000 mu (1 mu equals 666.7 square meters) was completed in 2020. Gao'an also brought in a team led by academician Zou Xuesheng of the Chinese Academy of Engineering to jointly establish the Gao'an chili industry research institute. And it has joined hands with the Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JXAAS) to build a demonstration base for breeding new chili varieties.

"We've adopted green pest control technology using microbial fertilizers, biocontrol plants and natural predators, cutting chemical pesticide use by 60 percent during the seedling stage. The product quality has also been improved," said Wan Xinjian, a researcher at the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, JXAAS. The township now cultivates 15,000 mu of chilies, generating over 200 million RMB annually.

At Jiangxi Sunner Food Co., Ltd. in Zixi county, Fuzhou city, automated feeding, watering and environmental control systems have made automatic environmental control, precise feeding and disease early warning the norm. "With the help of academician Huang Lusheng's team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, we've developed a national breeding center for white-feathered chickens," said the company executive Xi Jun. Their high-quality breeding stock now supplies 15 provinces in China, capturing 20 percent of the market.

Tech rejuvenates ancient wisdom

The Chinese-style garden at the Jiangxi Renhe Group is a comprehensive traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) sci-tech industrial park integrating R&D, production and logistics functions. At its heart lies the Erdong Decoction Granules, a modern medicine based on the classical TCM formula.

"This Erdong Decoction Granules transforms a traditional decoction into a convenient modern product," explained R&D director Li Xilong, showcasing how ancient prescriptions gain new life through innovation.

In Zhuqiao village in Jinxi county, preserved architecture thrives under a storage and custody mechanism for ancient villages and buildings. The ownership of ancient architecture remains unchanged, while investors can use partial operational rights of the historic buildings as collateral to apply for ancient village financial loans from banks. Over 2,000 historical buildings have been revitalized.

Cultural heritage flows into future

No visit to Jiangxi is complete without a trip to the Tengwang Pavilion — the province's iconic landmark located in Nanchang city, which holds cross-border cultural exchange activities. From innovative fusion of British tea with Jiangxi cuisine, to cross-temporal dialogues between Italian baristas and Yuzhang tea culture — Nanchang's global influence shines through.

At a Chinese writing brush culture museum in Wengang town, Jinxian county, the staff Zou Feizhi explains how to make writing brushes to visitors. The museum has not only added new exhibition areas for painted porcelain and traditional cultural exchange, but also set up a livestreaming studio inside the exhibition hall.

"Wengang boasts thousands of workshops to make writing brushes, all sharing resources from the Chinese writing brush culture museum and uniformly using the regional brand identity. This creates a division-of-labor model where the government builds the brand while enterprises handle the market," said Kong Jianchun, member of the Wengang Town Party Committee. "When buyers visit the museum, their understanding of Wengang writing brushes is renewed."