It was the first guided missile destroyer fielded by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), and the first designed and built in China.

[5] The PLAN began designing a warship armed with guided missiles in 1960 based on the Soviet destroyer Neustrashimy, with features from the Kotlin-class destroyer, but the Sino-Soviet split stopped work.

The ships nominally entered service in the early 1970s, but few were fully operational before 1985; workmanship was poor due to the Cultural Revolution.

[11] The second batch may have been ordered due to the Cultural Revolution disrupting development of a successor class.

The Falklands War made the prospective upgrades less impressive and cost effective, and the project was cancelled in 1984.

A 1986 upgrade project using American power plants, weapons, sensors, and computers was cancelled because of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

[8] Jinan, the first of class, became a trials ship in 1987; a helicopter hangar and flight deck replaced the rear armament.

[12] The last two ships, Zhanjiang and Zhuhai, were upgraded with foreign – mainly French – systems,[12] possibly being designated as Type 051G, and referred to as Luda III.

[11] Kaifeng initially received the Thomson-CSF Tavitac combat data system, the Type 393 surface search radar, and HQ-7 (Crotale derivative) surface-to-air missiles (SAM); the missiles replaced "X" turret.

[9] The Type 051G was an improved variant to which design the last two ships, Zhanjiang and Zhuhai, were completed.

[11] The Type 051G was also the first Chinese ship to deploy the YU-7 lightweight torpedo,[17] and the Italian 40 mm (1.6 in) anti-aircraft gun.