Chiang Kai-Shek Rifle

The Type Zhongzheng rifle (中正式), also known as the Chiang Kai-shek/Jiang Jieshi Rifle, Generalissimo Rifle, and Type 24 (二四式) after the Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, was a Chinese-made copy of the German Mauser M1924, the forerunner of the Karabiner 98k. Pre-production of the Chiang Kai-shek rifle started in August 1935 (year 24 of the Republican calendar, hence the Type 24). It was later renamed the Type Zhongzheng and was in full-scale production as early as late 1935. It was designated the Type 79 by the Chinese Communists and would often have the ideograph of Chiang defaced by them. Although the Hanyang 88 rifle was produced in greater numbers than the Type Zhongzheng, the full standardization of the Type Zhongzheng rifle only started during the Second Sino-Japanese war.

In a ten-year period, over half a million units were produced. The weapon's last major war the First Indochina War (1946–54).