Flying Pigeon () is a Chinese publicly owned bicycle company based in Tianjin. Since 1950, more than 500 million Flying Pigeon PA-02 bicycles have been made, and as of 2007, more than any other model of vehicle. The next closest vehicle model is the Honda Super Cub motorcycle, which passed 60 million in 2008, and 100 million in 2017. History 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 three "must-haves" of every citizen, alongside a sewing machine and watch - essential items in life that also offered a hint of wealth. 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 mechanized vehicle on the planet, becoming so ubiquitous that Deng Xiaoping — the post-Mao paramount leader who launched China's economic reforms 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-kilo black