5 Shi Jin - Liaoning Province Food Stamp

Chinese provincial grain ration coupons occupy a category that confounds conventional notaphily — they are neither banknotes nor bonds, but they were compulsory tender for staple foods under the planned economy and carried real purchasing power within their issuing province. Liaoning's grain bureau issued these in strict denominations keyed to the jin, the traditional half-kilogram unit that the PRC retained for ration administration long after metrication elsewhere.

The national ration coupon system, introduced in 1955, began dismantling only after 1992 when grain markets were progressively liberalized. Provincial stamps like this one became void and were officially recalled — most were pulped, which drives current scarcity.