½ Shi Jin - Food Stamp Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Chinese food stamps — liangpiao — were ration coupons issued at provincial, municipal, and county levels throughout the Mao era, running roughly from 1955 to the early 1990s when the national grain rationing system was finally dismantled. Xinjiang issues are among the more geographically specific in the system: the Grain Administration there operated under particular logistical pressure given the region's sparse population, long supply chains, and heavy military-agricultural presence through the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

The 1971 date places this squarely in the Cultural Revolution period, when regional administrative offices continued issuing ration documents even as many other institutional functions were disrupted or renamed. Xinjiang stamps from this period are notably harder to find than those from eastern provinces, where higher population density and urban distribution networks produced far greater print runs.