The 5.8×21mm cartridge

Cartridge (firearms)

A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...

 is a Chinese

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 armor-piercing firearm cartridge.

The cartridge was designed for replacements of 7.62×25mm Tokarev–chambered small arms for the People's Liberation Army

People's Liberation Army

The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...

 that would offer a wound as large as a standard 9×19mm Parabellum round. This round is offered in both a standard, and subsonic version. Both the QSZ-92

QSZ-92

The QSZ-92 Services Pistol is a semi-automatic pistol designed by Norinco and it is in limited service in the People's Liberation Army since the late 1990s.-Development:...

 pistol and the QCW-05

QCW-05

The QCW-05 is a suppressed submachine gun...

 Type 05 submachine gun

Submachine gun

A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...

are offered in this caliber as well as 9×19.