page_title: Tanks in China
section_title: Post-World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Tanks in China / History / Post-World War II
caption_attribution_description: A Chinese Type 62 tank at the Beijing military museum
context_page_description: From the early half of the 20th century, tanks were initially obtained from other countries; eventually indigenously designed Chinese tanks started manufacture and became used during the Cold War and towards the modern era.
context_section_description: The Huaihai Campaign was a military action during 1948 and 1949 that was the determining battle of the Chinese Civil War. It was one of the few conventional battles of the war with both sides using tanks, many captured from the Japanese or American tanks remaining from World War II. This campaign was one of the three campaigns that marked the end of Nationalist dominance in northern China, the other two campaigns being Liaoshen and Pingjin. 550,000 troops of the Republic of China (under the Kuomintang) were surrounded in Xuzhou (Hsuchow) and destroyed by the communist People's Liberation Army (PLA). Gongchen was the designation of a Japanese-built Type 97 Chi-Ha tank which served as the first tank of the PLA.
  The loss of KMT government's best troops and majority of their American equipment meant that they could no longer effectively defend the Yangtze river delta from further Communist attacks. The American government under President Harry Truman completely lost faith in Chiang Kai Shek and the nationalist government, therefore refused to give any further military and financial aid to the nationalists, and hastened collapse of KMT regime on the mainland.
  After Tianjin had been captured by the Communists, the Nationalist defenders in Beiping were in a hopeless situation, and the collapse of KMT regime on the mainland to the People's Liberation Army came about. On January 31, the People's Liberation Army entered Beiping to take over. The Pingjin Campaign was over. Beiping, soon to be the capital of the new People's Republic of China, was renamed Beijing.
  In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union gave China 1,837 T-34-85 tanks, along with some surplus Lend-Lease tanks from World War II. The T-34-85 tank also served with the North Koreans and Chinese during the Korean War. The 1954 Operations Research Office report of "Tank v Tank Combat in Korea" said there were 119 definite to possible tank v tank encounters in the Korean War, with US tanks knocked out by T-34s (includes categories of abandoned but repairable) was 38. The Chinese claimed that their T-34s destroyed a number of US tanks late in the war, as by this time most North Korean T-34s, estimated at a little over 400, had been destroyed or captured by November 1950.
  After the signing of Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, the Soviets agreed to assist China in building a tank manufacturing facility to manufacture the T-54A MBT in 1956. Initially, the tanks were assembled with Soviet-supplied parts, which were gradually replaced by Chinese-made components. The tank was accepted into service by the PLA in 1959, and given the designation Type 59.The Type 59 MBT represented China's first-generation tank development. The Type 59 MBT is also known as WZ-120 by its manufacturer name. It was produced in great numbers from 1959 to the mid-1980s,  totaling over 10,000. Over the years, it was upgraded with various domestic and western technologies.
  When the Type 59 main battle tank was being developed it became apparent that because of the high weight of the tank it would have difficulties operating in areas of southern China. These areas mostly consist of mountain ranges, hills, rice paddy fields, lakes and multiple rivers which many times are without a bridge or with bridges that could not withstand the weight of Type 59 main battle tank. Therefore, in the late 1950s the PLA Ground Force submitted requirements for a light tank that could be successfully deployed in the areas of southern China. The development of the Type 62 light tank began with 674 Factory (Harbin First Machinery Building Group Ltd) in 1958. The building of the first Type 62 light tank prototype, Type 59-16, began in 1960 and ended in 1962. The tank officially entered production and service with the PLA in 1963. After an unsuccessful attempt at fitting the Type 62 light tank with the turret from the Type 63A amphibious light tank a new turret was designed and fitted on the Type 62. This new variant was designated Type 62G.
  After the Sino-Soviet split, the Soviet Union withdrew its tec
caption: Type 62 light tank
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