In the 1950s, the Chinese school of tank building began to move away from copying foreign designs to creating something new. A deterioration in relations with the U.S.S.R. led to an increase in the proportion of their own developments which, despite their external similarity to Soviet models, had Chinese origins. Work on the BZ-72-1 began in the late 1960s. An interesting feature of the vehicle was its jet boosters, which were supposed to improve crossing capacity in difficult terrain. In addition, an autoreloading mechanism was planned to be used. However, due to the high cost of production, the Chinese leadership opted for more mass-produced medium and light tanks. No prototypes were built.