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1 Shi Jin - Flour Stamp Xining City, Qinghai
| Issuer | Xining City Grain Bureau, Qinghai |
|---|---|
| Year | 1973 |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | A green vignette of a streamlined passenger train in motion occupies the left portion of the face, printed by letterpress in green ink. To the right, the denomination 壹市斤 appears within a decorative guilloche rosette in pink and yellow. The numeral 1 is printed in green at the upper left, with the issuer inscription 西宁市面票 across the top right. A ornamental green border with wave and floral motifs runs along the lower edge, incorporating the date 1973. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a fine pink diagonal-line underprint across the central field, enclosed within a green decorative border with guilloche corner ornaments and repeating floral motifs. The numeral 1 appears in green within cartouches at the left and right margins. A circular red official control stamp bearing a five-pointed star is applied over the central text block, which contains the usage regulations in Chinese characters. |
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| Comments |
Chinese municipal grain coupons (liangpiao) occupied a parallel economy for four decades — not currency, but functionally inseparable from survival. Issued by local grain bureaus under the national rationing system introduced in 1955, these stamps were the mechanism by which urban residents claimed their state-allocated flour, rice, or cooking oil. Without them, money alone bought nothing at the counter.
Xining, as the administrative center of Qinghai — one of China's most geographically isolated provinces — operated its own closed coupon system. A 1973 issue reflects the rationing apparatus at near-peak rigidity, well before Deng Xiaoping's reforms began unwinding the system in the early 1980s. National grain rationing was formally abolished only in 1993.