Type 56 Assault Rifle

The Type 56 is the rifle most closely associated with Cold War national liberation movements - Chinese arsenals shipped it by the millions to FRELIMO in Mozambique, the Viet Cong in the Mekong Delta, the Khmer Rouge, and ZANLA guerrillas in Rhodesia. It is identifiable at a glance by its integral folding cruciform spike bayonet, retained on Chinese infantry variants long after the Soviets had deleted the bayonet lug on the AKM, and by the pentagonal 'pagoda' factory mark of State Factory 66 stamped on the receiver.

The Type 56 is arguably the most widely distributed AK-pattern rifle of the Cold War's proxy conflicts. From the mid-1960s onward, China shipped Type 56s by the millions to allied states and national liberation movements, and the rifle became the defining infantry weapon of the Vietnam People's Army, the Viet Cong, the Khmer Rouge, FRELIMO, MPLA, SWAPO, ZANLA, and numerous other insurgencies. Production began at State Factory 66 in 1956 and expanded to Factory 626 and others; early milled-receiver guns remained in parallel production with later stamped guns into the 1970s. The integral folding spike bayonet was retained on Chinese infantry variants long after the Soviets deleted the bayonet lug from the AKM, making it one of the clearest identification markers of Chinese-origin AKs. Civilian semi-auto-only export variants (MAK-90, NHM-91) were sold in large numbers in the United States until 1994 import restrictions. Production continues today primarily for export.