History： Since the 1980s, the third-generation tanks represented by the German "Leopard 2" and the U.S. M1A2 have led the trend of the world's main battle tanks. At that time, the overall performance of Chinese tanks was still at the level of the second generation, with a large gap in protection, mobility, electronic system performance, etc. compared with the world's advanced tanks. In 1989, China decided to draw on the technology of the Soviet T-72 tank and fully absorb more advanced technologies from the West, with the 201st Research Institute of China North Industries Group Corporation as the main body to develop a new type of tank.