Built under license in China, the basic Yak-18 was known as the Nanchang CJ-5. Produced at the Nanchang Aircraft Factory from 1954 through 1958, the design showed deficiencies for jet pilot training that led the Chinese to independently revise the basic Yak-18 design to feature a retractable undercarriage, with the main gear folding inward toward the fuselage, and the nose wheel retracting backward
into the fuselage. The wings were revised to have prominent dihedral, but, like the Soviet Yak-18A redesign, the CJ-6A retained the 145hp M-11ER radial engine with similarly disappointing results when it first flew in 1958. Revised power, in the form of an Ivchenko AI-14R engine, didn't solve the problem, which called for further redesign of the aircraft. Finally, in 1961, an improved CJ-6A gained approval and was produced beginning in 1962 using a 285hp Quzhou Huosai HS6A engine. An armed version, the CJ-6B, was produced between 1964 and 1966, equipped with a 300-hp HS-6D engine, according to some sources.

As of 2007, the Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Company was still manufacturing the CJ-6G, a modernized version featuring such improvements as increased power, a strengthened fuselage structure, bigger fuel tanks, and other modifications.