1 Jin · Cooking Oil Stamp Wuhan City, Hubei

China's urban rationing system, formalized after 1953 and never fully dismantled until the early 1990s, required residents to surrender coupons like this one at point of sale — no coupon, no purchase, regardless of cash on hand. Wuhan administered its own municipal ration books separately from national allocations, meaning these Hubei-issued stamps were invalid outside the city. A Wuhan resident traveling to Chongqing needed that city's coupons instead.

Cooking oil remained under strict rationing longer than grain in many municipalities, reflecting persistent supply constraints through the reform decade. This 1980 date places it squarely in the earliest phase of Deng Xiaoping's opening policies, when market liberalization was beginning but state distribution infrastructure had not yet loosened its grip on edible oils.