250 Grams - Ripe Grains Stamp Jinzhou City, Liaoning

Grain ration coupons of this type were administrative instruments, not currency — issued by municipal grain bureaus under the planned distribution system that required urban residents to exchange coupons for staple foods at state-run shops. By 1990, China's dual-track reform had already introduced market mechanisms for many goods, but grain remained under quota control in most northern cities, Jinzhou included. The Liaoning province system was slower to liberalize than coastal regions, so local bureau coupons continued circulating well into the early 1990s.

National grain rationing was formally abolished in 1993, rendering the entire category obsolete almost overnight. Most coupons were discarded; survival rates are low.