Chang-Jiang Motorcycles

Chang-Jiang (often rendered Changjiang) is the brand name attached to the CJ750, a motorcycle produced for decades by China's Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Company. Its design traces back through the Soviet Ural/IMZ M-72 to the 1938 BMW R71, a lineage inherited via wartime technology transfer, and production for the Chinese military began in the late 1950s. The CJ750 is an air-cooled, shaft-driven, opposed-twin motorcycle typically paired with a sidecar copied closely from the Soviet design; the original M1 variant used a sidevalve engine and 6-volt electrics, while the later M1M added a 12-volt system, electric start, and reverse gear, developed with German engineering input. It served for decades as a standard Chinese military and police vehicle. Mass production wound down through the mid-1980s and 1990s as China opened its market to foreign manufacturers, though CJ750-style motorcycles have continued to be built in smaller numbers for enthusiasts and the export market since.