5 Kilo - Flour Stamp Siping City, Jilin

Siping sits in central Jilin province, and in 1987 the grain rationing apparatus established under Mao was still very much operational — though visibly fraying. Municipal food bureaus issued stamps like this one to control the distribution of staple commodities at subsidized state prices, a system that would survive only another few years before being largely dismantled between 1991 and 1993. The flour denomination specifically reflects the wheat-consuming habits of northeastern China, where steamed buns and noodles dominated over rice.

These municipal-level ration instruments were printed in enormous quantities but almost never saved. Most were exchanged, torn, or discarded at the point of redemption, which is why surviving examples — even from as recently as the late 1980s — are genuinely uncommon in collectible condition.