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1 Shi Jin - Noodle Stamp Xian, Shaanxi
| Issuer | Xi'an City Grain Bureau (西安市粮食局) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1983 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Cream paper with letterpress printing in brown, red, and yellow inks. The title inscription runs across the top, flanked by the numeral "1" at each corner; to the left, a red circular official seal bearing a central five-pointed star. The denomination in large brown characters occupies the centre, with the year "1983" in red to the right and a light yellow decorative vignette of a bowl between them. A dense geometric guilloche band in brown runs along the lower edge. |
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| Obverse lettering | 西安市切面专用票 壹市斤 1983 全年通用 年终作废 |
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| Comments |
Chinese grain ration coupons of this period were issued at municipal, provincial, and national levels simultaneously — each valid only within its own administrative jurisdiction. A city-level coupon like this one from the Xi'an City Grain Bureau could not legally be used to purchase grain outside Xi'an's municipal boundaries, which made travel across China a logistical puzzle requiring the exchange of local coupons for national-issue equivalents at designated state grain shops.
The noodle denomination is specific: this is not a general grain coupon but one restricted to shi jin (10 jin, roughly 5 kg) of mian — wheat noodles, the dietary staple of Shaanxi. By 1983 the rationing system was already fraying under early reform-era market pressures, and coupons from this period often went partially or entirely unused.