20 Shi Jin - Fine Grains Stamp Kaifeng City, Henan

Grain ration coupons issued by municipal and county-level grain bureaus were a direct product of China's unified grain procurement and rationing system, which remained in force from 1953 until its final abolition in 1993. Kaifeng, as a prefectural-level city in Henan — one of China's principal wheat-producing provinces — administered its own parallel coupon series distinct from national-issue grain tickets, valid only within the city's jurisdiction.

The ten-year validity window printed on this coupon reflects the mid-reform period, when the state distribution system was already contracting but had not yet collapsed. By 1993, urban grain markets were effectively liberalized, and most remaining stocks of municipal coupons like this one were withdrawn and pulped rather than redeemed.