Objective To study the characteristics of RT-SHIV passaging in Chinese rhesus macaques and to establish a RT-SHIV /rhesus animal model providing an animal platform in evaluation of the effectiveness of HIV-1 drugs.Methods Four healthy rhesus macaques selected were negative to SIV，SRV and STLV-1. Two monkeys of them were infected with RT-SHIV intravenously. Blood samples were collected from the infected monkeys at the acute phase and CD8 － PBMC were isolated，and then propagated RT-SHIV. The propagated RT-SHIV with PBMC were injected intravenously into the other two monkeys. Viral load in plasma，CD4 + /CD8 ratio and absolute number of CD4 + T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes were detected，and the RT gene variation was analyzed. Results Systemic infection was established in all of the four rhesus macaques，and the two passaged animals demonstrated more severe changes at the acute phase. There were three amino acid changed during infection and passages. Conclusion The results of our study provide basic information for the establishment of RT-SHIV /Chinese-origin rhesus monkeys models.