Designed in 1936, the Type 97 Chi-Ha was a Japanese medium tank. Powered by a Mitsubishi engine with a 57mm main gun, the Chi-Ha was widely produced and extensively used by the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII. Its upgraded version was the Shinhoto Chi-Ha, which had an enlarged turret. Although it had a smaller 47mm main gun, the Shinhoto had a higher velocity than the original Chi-Ha. Shinhoto Chi-Has were considered to be the best Japanese medium tank of WWII, although they could not compete with their American Sherman counterparts.
At the end of WWII, many Shinhotos and original Chi-Has were captured by Soviet forces, who then turned them over to the PLA for the resumed Chinese Civil War. The first of these tanks was actually independently captured by the PLA in 1945 and designated as ‘102’. During the Battle of Jinzhou in October 1948, 102 led a successful charge of over a dozen Communist tanks against KMT positions. For its performance, the vehicle was officially renamed ‘Gongchen’ (‘Heroic Tank’) and went on to lead the PLA victory parade in Tiananmen Square on 1 October 1949.
It’s estimated that most of the PLA’s approximately 100 Chi-Ha tanks served in Manchuria rather than in other campaigns. However, by the time the Chinese Communist Party took power in 1949 the PLA possibly had almost 350 in service.