3 Shi Jin - Meat Stamp Wusheng County, Sichuan

Chinese county-level food ration coupons of this period were administered independently by local bureaus, which is why denominations, formats, and issuing authorities vary so dramatically even within a single province. Wusheng County, a small administrative unit in Guang'an Prefecture, issued its own meat allocation stamps outside the national grain coupon system — local food bureaus retained this authority well into the reform period, even as Deng Xiaoping's market liberalization was already underway in the countryside by 1979.

The "shi jin" unit (市斤, the Chinese standard catty of 500g) places this squarely in pre-metric everyday commerce. Three catties of meat was a meaningful monthly allocation for a rural household at this time.