5 Shi Jin - Fine Grains Stamp Hebi City, Henan

Grain ration coupons issued by municipal-level bureaus like this one were a direct product of China's unified grain procurement and supply system (统购统销), in place from 1953 and still operating well into the reform era. By 1980, Deng Xiaoping's agricultural reforms were beginning to dismantle collective farming, but urban rationing infrastructure remained intact — local bureaus continued issuing denomination-specific coupons redeemable for staple grains at state-controlled prices.

Hebi, a coal-mining city in northern Henan established as a planned industrial settlement in the late 1950s, had a tightly managed state-employed population — exactly the population for whom municipal grain coupons remained practical and necessary. The "shi jin" (市斤) unit equals 500 grams.