In the early 1960s, the Sino-Soviet relationship was quickly deteriorating. In an effort to improve relations, the USSR invited top Chinese military officials to Moscow to oversee the production of the state-of-the-art MiG-21 interceptor and to negotiate possible licence-production. However, further deterioration of relations had a negative impact on the agreement, but in the end, technical documentation and components of the MiG-21 were eventually shared with China.

However, Chinese engineers soon realized that the shared information and equipment was incomplete, thus making local production impossible at the time. As a result, a lengthy and painstaking reverse-engineering effort was launched. By the mid ‘60s, the first reverse-engineered J-7 was completed and undertook its maiden flight.

As series production just began, major unrests broke out in China following the start of the Cultural Revolution, which would go on well into the ‘70s. As a result, production of these early machines was met with great difficulties and only a few were built. In 1974, Chengdu Aircraft relaunched development of the project, continuing work on an improved design.

This new version, designated J-7II, first took to the skies in late 1978 and featured several improvements, such as a Chinese-built ejection seat, a reworked canopy and a more powerful engine with increased service time and improved consumption, among other changes. Shortly after the maiden flight, mass production of the J-7II began and went on until 1986 with around 375 machines being built.