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5 Shi Jin - Hunan Province Food Stamp
| Issuer | Hunan Province Grain Bureau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1974 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 湖南省粮票 伍市斤 1974 (Translation: Hunan Province Food Stamp 5 Shi Jin (2.5 kg) 1974) |
| Reverse description | Rose-red letterpress on plain paper with a central octagonal guilloche border framing three numbered usage instruction clauses in Chinese. Numeral '5' rosettes appear at left and right within the decorative frame. A circular official red ink stamp of the Grain Bureau is applied to the centre. |
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| Comments |
Chinese provincial food stamps (liangpiao) were not currency but allocation instruments — a household's legal claim on a fixed grain ration under the state procurement system that persisted in various forms from 1955 until the early 1990s. Hunan's 1974 issue falls squarely in the middle of a period when the Cultural Revolution had severely disrupted grain distribution logistics, making these stamps genuinely functional documents rather than bureaucratic formalities. Without one, a resident could not purchase their grain allocation at the state price regardless of available cash.
Provincial stamps were only valid within the issuing province. Interprovincial travel required a separate national-level ration certificate, which had to be applied for in advance — a reminder of how tightly internal movement was controlled in this period.