10 Shi Jin - Food Stamp Xichang City, Sichuan

Chinese grain ration coupons (粮票, liángpiào) were a core instrument of the planned economy's distribution system, introduced nationally in 1955 and administered at provincial, municipal, and county levels simultaneously — creating thousands of locally distinct issues. This Xichang example is a municipal-level coupon, valid only within Xichang City itself, making it useless outside its issuing jurisdiction. A resident traveling to Chengdu would have needed provincial-level coupons instead.

By 1981, the reform era had begun quietly eroding the rationing infrastructure, and many city-level grain bureaus were already winding down coupon production. Xichang's issues from this period tend to survive in small quantities — not because they were carefully preserved, but because local redemption networks collapsed before full drawdown.