Abstract: Leading industries have a significant impact on the direction of regional industrial development, the composition of industrial structures, and the status and role of regional industrial division of labor in the country. Taking the national and provincial development zones along the Changjiang River bank as the survey object, with the methods of buffer analysis, text mining to analyze the type conversion and spatial pattern evolution of leading industries in the upper, middle and lower reaches along the bank within 0-5 km, 5-15 km and 15-30 km in 2006 and 2018. The results show that: (1) The manufacturing industry has always occupied the core position along the bank and high-polluting industries have gradually withdrawn from the near bank of the Changjiang River. The phenomenon of “Changjiang River surrounded by chemical industries” has improved, and the industrial upgrading trend is obvious. (2) The distribution of dominant leading industries is more stable which have the potential to build world-class industrial clusters, meanwhile the types of industries are becoming more diversified, and strategic emerging industries are growing rapidly. (3) The overall industrial distribution presents a gradual decline pattern from the near bank of Changjiang River to the outside, from the downstream to the upstream, but it shows a certain degree of regional balance. (4) The distribution of the types of leading industries in the upper, middle and lower reaches shows a gradient evolution, and it has the condition for industrial transfer, but there are certain risks of industrial competition at the same time.