Over 9,500 of the tanks were produced by the time production ended in 1985 with approximately 5,500 serving with the Chinese armed forces.

[citation needed] The Type 59 has a conventional post-war layout with an engine compartment at the rear and a cast dome-shaped gun turret in the centre of the hull.

Very early models of the Type 59 gun had manual elevation gear, later replaced with a powered system which allowed the gun to be aimed at between +17 and −4 degrees (the average depression for Western tanks is -10, which allows for better usage of hull-down tactics).

The tank is powered by a Model 12150L V-12 liquid-cooled diesel engine, which develops 390 kilowatts (520 hp) at 2,000 rpm.

Ammunition is stored inside the turret, which increases the odds of a catastrophic secondary explosion should the tank's interior be penetrated by enemy fire.

Initially, the tanks were assembled with Soviet-supplied parts, which were gradually replaced by Chinese-made components.

The tanks of 42nd Corps, as the vanguard force responsible for cutting off the northern Vietnamese city of Cao Bằng, bore the brunt of the losses in armour and managed to advance only 30 km within 3 days.

The poor performance of tanks and AFVs in this battle was attributed to the mountainous and hilly terrain in much of northern Vietnam that was inherently unsuitable for mechanized warfare, just like in Korea.

[11][12][13] The Type 59s of the Zairian Special Presidential Division saw limited action in 1998 against the rebels of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo.

[14] In the late 1950s, the PLA submitted requirements for a light tank more suitable for operations in China's southern region.

An improved Type 62-I version was produced with better FCS with laser rangefinder, and turret storage racks for added protection.

They found that the thin armour of the Type 62 tank could be penetrated easily by hand-held anti-tank weapons, such as the 40 mm RPG.

The Type 62 tank suffered severe losses during the conflict, which convinced the PLA to develop new second-generation MBTs.

The Type 62 tank received a major upgrade in 2000, with new welded turret, vertically stabilised 105 mm rifled gun, fire-control system, night vision device, smoke grenade launchers, and explosive reactive armor (ERA) package.

[25][26] It is a modernised variant of the Type 59 using the tank's chassis similar to its Russian counterpart the BMPT Terminator.

The vehicle was first appeared at the Zhuhai Air Show in China in November 2018, and is armed with four QN-502C anti-tank missiles, twenty QN-201 multi-purpose mini missiles, four S-570 loitering munitions, an unmanned 30 mm cannon, a 7.62 mm machine gun, six grenade launchers, and a quadcopter surveillance drone.

Improvements includes: France France acquired a Type 59 to modify it to sell a new upgrade package made by Giat industry, to other countries, notably in the development of a new tank for Egypt which seeks a new tank based on the T-62 with western weaponry.

The Al-Zarrar series was designed to improve and rebuild the Pakistani army's Type 59 tanks by way of more modern armament, fire control, defensive equipment, etc.

North Korea operates Kok'san – 170 mm artillery piece, based on the Type 59 chassis.

The upgrades incorporated 105 mm L7A3 gun with thermal sleeve and ammunition stowage of 34 rounds, British smoke grenade dischargers on both sides of the turret, Graviner fire-suppression system, Vickers Instruments L50 gunner's sight with laser-rangefinder, Avimo driver's sight night-vision device, Marconi's Centaur weapon system with digital FCS, Mantis commander's sight and solid-state drives.