5 Kiko - Coarse Grains Stamp Siping City, Jilin

Grain ration coupons issued by municipal food bureaus were a fixture of China's planned economy from the 1950s onward, but by 1987 the system was already fraying. National grain rationing was formally abolished in 1993, making late-issue provincial and municipal coupons like this one products of the system's final years — printed and circulated in a window when central planning and market reform were running simultaneously and uneasily.

The "coarse grains" (粗粮) designation matters. Urban ration allocations distinguished between fine grains — wheat flour, polished rice — and coarse grains such as corn, sorghum, and millet, which carried lower prestige and were issued separately. Holding a coarse grain stamp rather than a fine grain allocation said something about household status and supply conditions in Siping at the time.