10 Shi Jin - Fine Grains Stamp Hebi City, Henan

Grain ration coupons issued by provincial bureaus were a structural feature of China's planned economy from the 1950s onward, but municipal-level stamps like this one — issued through Hebi City rather than the provincial office directly — reflect the layered, decentralized administration of rationing in practice. Hebi was a relatively young city in 1980, having been established in 1957 primarily around coal extraction, which meant its grain distribution infrastructure was built almost entirely under the state rationing framework from the outset.

The "shi jin" denomination places this within the catty-based weight system used across all PRC grain coupons. These were non-transferable in principle, though enforcement was uneven.