Key point: It was meant to be a test of the Chinese ability to develop small arms on its own. In the 1980s, China’s small arms were largely inferior to the United States and Russia. The PLA was mostly ...

Here’s What You Need to Remember: Despite its success, in the end, the Type 81 was still a stopgap rifle. What the PLA really wanted was a rifle in a new true intermediate caliber: 5.8mm. In the 1980s ...