½ Shi Jin - Coarse Grains Food Stamp Anyue County, Sichuan

Chinese county-level food stamps (粮票) issued by local grain bureaus were administrative tools within the state rationing system, not currency — but they functioned as one in practice, accepted for grain purchases at state prices that bore no relation to actual market values. Anyue County, a largely rural district in central Sichuan, issued its own stamps independently of the provincial series, as each administrative level maintained separate ration allocations.

The coarse grains designation (粗粮) is the telling detail here. Fine grain rations — rice and wheat flour — were allocated separately and more jealously guarded. Coarse grains covered maize, sorghum, millet, and sweet potato equivalent weights, reflecting the dietary realities of inland Sichuan peasants in the early reform period, just as the household responsibility system was dissolving the communes that had administered rationing at the village level.