Comparing: WZ-131 vs. T-34-2 vs. T-44

Development of a lightweight version of the Type 59 tank started in 1957. The new tank was designed to fight in the mountainous and boggy terrain of South China. The first prototype was built in 1962. Later, the vehicle underwent several stages of modernization.

The T-34-2 was not an upgraded modification of the Soviet T-34 tank, but was a totally different vehicle. Chinese engineers conceived the T-34-2 as an analog of the Soviet T-54. Later the U.S.S.R. passed the technology of T-54 production to China, and the T-34-2 project was discontinued.

Adopted in 1944, with a total of 965 vehicles produced by the end of the war. The T-44 remained in service until the end of the 1970s.