China began the research and development of scrapers in the 1960s. In April 1961, Zhengzhou Construction Machinery Factory, the First Ministry of Machinery Industry Construction Machinery Research Institute, and Xiamen Construction Machinery Factory (the predecessors of Yutong Heavy Industries, Tianjin Construction Machinery Research Institute, and XGMA Group respectively) established a joint design team to develop China's first generation of self-propelled scrapers with reference to foreign prototypes. The design was completed in August of the same year. On December 22, 1962, China's first self-propelled scraper prototype, the C-6106, was born at Zhengzhou Construction Machinery Factory.

        A scraper can independently perform both scraping and transporting functions. Especially when the transportation distance is between 200-300 meters and 1000-2000 meters, its operational economic efficiency is significantly better than the construction efficiency of other mechanical combinations. For this reason, in the 1960s and 1970s, the research and development of scrapers received attention from relevant national departments [1]. In August 1963, in accordance with the National Science and Technology Commission's "1964 Key Control Projects for New Products" plan, Zhengzhou Construction Machinery Factory and the First Ministry of Machinery Industry Construction Machinery Research Institute established a joint design team to develop and design the CL7 self-propelled scraper. The CL7 self-propelled scraper trial-produced in 1972 adopted hydrodynamic mechanical transmission, and the movements of various parts of its bucket were controlled by hydraulic cylinders. Compared with the first generation of self-propelled scrapers, the CL7 self-propelled scraper saw a qualitative improvement in product grade, ushering in the first new era of China's scrapers. This machine represented the latest level of China's mechanical and electrical products at that time and was sent to Cologne, Germany for an international exhibition in June 1975; it also won the National Science and Technology Conference Award in 1978. In October 1978, in accordance with the requirements of the First Ministry of Machinery Industry, two CL7 self-propelled scrapers conducted China's first industrial test of construction machinery for plateau road construction on the section from Golmud to Xidatan where the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was planned to be built.

        Today, decades later, the scrapers that once carried missions and honors are struggling. Although scrapers have considerable economy in scraping and transporting operations, they have been replaced by the combined mode of excavators or loaders with dump trucks. According to statistics, in the United States, the earthwork completed by scrapers accounts for 40% of the total earthwork.