Hongdu

Hongdu's predecessor was the Sino-Italian National Aircraft Works (SINAW), established in December 1934 in Nanchang. It was a joint venture between the Republic of China and the Kingdom of Italy, after Chiang Kai-shek signed an agreement with Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini a year before. In 1935, factories were built at Qingyunpu Airport (then known as Sanjiadian) and Laoyingfang Airport.[2] Song Ziliang (T. L. Soong) served as the first chairman, and an Italian served as general manager.[2]

After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, SINAW factories were severely damaged by Japanese aerial bombing.[2] When the Chinese government discovered that Italians served as guides for Japanese pilots, it broke off its relationship with Italy, and all Italian employees left the company by the end of the year, with 300 Chinese employees remaining. On 9 December 1937, Chiang Kai-shek confiscated Italian shares and properties and renamed the company Central Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Factory (中央南昌飛機製造廠). To evade Japanese attacks, it was relocated to Nanchuan, Chongqing, and was renamed No. 2 Aircraft Manufacturing Factory (第二飛機製造廠).[2] After the end of the war, the company was moved back to Sanjiadian Airport in Nanchang in 1947.[2]

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the company was re-established in 1951 as the state-run Hongdu Machinery-building Factory and later as Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation.[3] In March 1998 the company's name was changed to Hongdu Aviation Industry (Group) Corporation.[4]

Since its founding, Hongdu used Qingyunpu Airport for test flights. On 23 December 2009, the Jiangxi provincial government reached an agreement with Aviation Industry Corporation of China to build the new Nanchang Yaohu Airport in the Nanchang Aviation Industrial City to replace Qingyunpu Airport. Construction began in November 2016, and Yaohu Airport was opened on 16 August 2018.[5]