Flying Pigeon

In 1936, a Japanese businessman built the Changho Works factory in Tianjin, and started to make "Anchor" bicycles. The brand name was changed to "Victory", and then renamed to "Zhongzi". After the Communists led by Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong came to power in 1949, the bicycle industry was revived.

In April 1949, Communist Party secretary Liu Shaoqi paid a visit to the factory and commanded that it become the first bicycle manufacturer in New China. Their workers were tasked to build a generation of strong, durable, light, and beautiful bicycles for the New China. On July 5, 1950, the first Flying Pigeon bicycle was produced. It was the brainchild of a worker named Huo Baoji, who based his classic model on the 1932 English Raleigh roadster. The "Flying Pigeon" name was intended as an expression of peace during the war in Korea. The Flying Pigeon logo is a stylized dove, representing concord and harmony, resting on the initials FG. Previous logos have depicted the dove in flight.

The Flying Pigeon was at the forefront of the bicycle phenomenon in the People's Republic of China. The vehicle was the government approved form of transport, and the nation became known as zixingche wang guo, the Kingdom of Bicycles. A bicycle was regarded as one of the Four Big Things of every citizen, alongside a sewing machine, watch, and radio –important items which signified a (permanent) increase in living standards.The Flying Pigeon bicycle became a symbol of an egalitarian social system that promised little comfort but a reliable ride through life.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the logo became synonymous with almost all bicycles in the country. The Flying Pigeon became the single most popular vehicle on the planet, becoming so ubiquitous that Deng Xiaoping—the post-Mao paramount leader who launched China's reform and opening up in the 1970s— defined prosperity as "a Flying Pigeon in every household".

In the early 1980s, Flying Pigeon was the country's biggest bike manufacturer, selling 3 million cycles in 1986. Its 20-kilogram black single-speed models were popular with workers, and there was a waiting list of several years to get one, and even then buyers needed good guanxi (connections) in addition to the purchase cost, which was about four months' wages for most workers.

The classic Flying Pigeon bicycles are the PA-02 and PA-06 (men's) and PB-13 (women's): single speed black roadsters.

They are simple, relative to other bicycles. They are all-steel single speed with 28 in (710 mm) wheels, fenders, fully covered chain, sprung leather saddle, rear rack and rod brakes (a handlebar lever connects directly to the brake pads via a solid rod), double stand (PA02 and PA06) or side stand (PB13). They are only available in one colour, black, except for the flare of vanilla at the fender tips. They can be equipped with a dynamo lighting set.

These specifications are standard to all three models, except where otherwise noted.

twenty-eight-inch (71.1 cm) by 1+1⁄2-inch (38 mm) (ISO 635) wheels, 32 spokes in front, 40 spokes in the rear, Westwood rims.