2500 Grams - Fine Grains Stamp Zibo, Shandong

Chinese grain ration coupons operated as a parallel currency system from the mid-1950s until their phased abolition through the early 1990s — the result of the state's gradual retreat from central allocation after market reforms took hold. This Zibo City issue dates to that unwinding period, when municipal bureaus were still printing and distributing coupons even as the national rationing infrastructure was collapsing beneath them. Zibo, an industrial center in central Shandong, maintained a substantial grain distribution network tied to its large factory workforce.

The denomination in fine grains (细粮) rather than general grain weight is the telling detail — fine grains meant wheat flour or rice specifically, rationed separately from coarse grains, and worth more in practice.