1 Kilogram - Rice Food Stamp Sìpíng City, Jilin

Chinese municipal grain ration coupons operated outside the currency system entirely — they were administrative instruments tied to the household registration system (hukou), which bound a person's food entitlements to their registered locality. A coupon issued by the Siping Food Bureau could not, in principle, be redeemed anywhere else in Jilin province, let alone nationally. By 1987 the state rationing apparatus was already being dismantled in coastal provinces, but inland and northeastern cities like Siping lagged considerably behind the reform curve.

The national grain coupon system was formally abolished in 1993, leaving municipal-issue pieces like this one with a circulation window of six years at most.