With the commercial success of the semiauto Type 56S AK rifles in the US, Norinco looked for other options for export rifles to sell. Given the use of the 5.56x45mm cartridge in the US, an AK chambered for that round was an obvious answer. Norinco did not have the technical data package to make the AK-74, so instead they made their own conversion to adapt the design to the new cartridge (they did the same for the 5.45x39mm round as the Type 88, which was too late to be imported into the US). The result was a rifle with he unique Chinese Type 56 stamped features but chambered for 5.56mm. Six different versions were imported in the few brief years before the assault weapons import ban:

84S: Wood fixed stock and wood handguard
84-1: Underfolding stock and wooden handguard
84-2: Sidefolding stock and wood handguard
84-3: Extra-long polymer fixed stock
84-4: Sidefolding stock and polymer handguard
84-5: Sidefolding stock and black polymer handguard