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10 Shi Jin - Coarse Grains Stamp Zhengzhou City, Henan
| Issuer | Zhengzhou City Grain Bureau, Henan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1982 |
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| Size | 90 x 40 mm |
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| Obverse description | Cream-toned券face with a multi-tiered pagoda vignette at left on a light guilloche underprint, flanked by ears of grain and a maize stalk at right. The denomination 拾市斤 is printed in large bold Chinese characters at centre, with the year 1982 below and the issuer title 郑州市粗粮券 across the top. Numeral 10 appears in the upper corners within a decorative cartouche at left. |
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| Obverse lettering | 10 郑州市粗粮券 拾市斤 1982 |
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| Comments |
Chinese municipal grain ration stamps (liangpiao) were a product of the planned economy's distribution infrastructure — not currency, but functioning as a parallel exchange medium for basic foodstuffs. Zhengzhou's Grain Bureau issued stamps like this one to control allocation of coarse grains (culiang), a category that typically covered maize, sorghum, millet, and sweet potato flour, as distinct from fine grains such as wheat and rice. The distinction mattered: coarse grain rations were larger in volume but lower in status, and urban residents frequently attempted to convert their culiang allocations into xiliang through informal exchange.
The state's grain rationing system, introduced in 1955, was not fully dismantled until 1993. This 1982 stamp sits near the midpoint of that system's slow collapse under market pressure.