The Type 032 midget submarine and its experimental version Type 032-1 belongs to a family of midget sub developed by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the late 1950s, and it was one of the first submarine indigenously developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

However, due to the political turmoil in China at the time, Type 032 series was cancelled after only a single unit was completed.

[1] The project managerial team of Type 032 series midget sub consisted of the leadership of the Shipbuilding and Repair Department (SRD) of the PLAN Headquarter (海军司令部修造部).

[1] After all initial design drawings were completed, further developmental work was supported by the 702nd Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC).

[1] In order to make the trip, Type 032-1 had to be first loaded on a barge at Jiangnan Shipyard to be shipped to the Shanghai railway station in the north via Huangpu River.

[1] After three days travel by railway, the midget sub reached its destination and was transferred to a pier at the base,[1] with sea trials immediate followed.

The testing team of Type 032-1 consisted a crew that included seasoned submariners such as Mr. Han Wen-Yun (韩文运), the captain of the boat, Chen Ji-Lin (陈吉林), the crew chief, Mr. Jing Li-Feng (荆聿封), Mr. Li X-Ju (李锡驹), data recording staff on board the boat.

[1] Three sea trials were conducted, with the first one revealed the sub was a little unstable when going backward, and based on this discovered, the design was modified to incorporate an additional pair of stabilizing fins to resolve the issue.

However, because the sub performed much better than expected, testing crew remain submerge much longer than originally planned, causing people on the surface and land to mistakenly believe the sub had sunk due to lack of adequate communication means at the time.

M-279) sunk in a naval exercise after colliding with a frigate when surfacing, resulting in 38 out of 39 people on board killed.