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5 Shi Jin - Shanxi Province Food Stamp
| Issuer | Shanxi Province Grain Bureau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1981 |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 山西省粮票 伍市斤 1981 (Translation: Shanxi Food Stamp Five Shi Jin (2500 grams) 1981) |
| Reverse description | Deep rose-red letterpress print on white paper; a fine guilloche wave underprint fills the central panel, flanked by ornamental rosette vignettes bearing the numeral 5 at left and right. Four numbered clauses of usage instructions in Chinese characters are set within the central field, overlaid by an official circular red stamp with a five-pointed star. |
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| Comments |
Chinese provincial food stamps — liangpiao — operated as a parallel rationing currency from 1955 until the system was formally abolished in 1993. This Shanxi example from 1981 falls into the late-middle period of rationing, when the system was already straining under the pressures of early Deng-era economic liberalization but had not yet begun its formal dismantlement. The shi jin denomination — equal to five jin, or roughly 2.5 kilograms — was a mid-range grain ration unit, practical for multi-day household allocation rather than single-meal purchase.
Shanxi stamps from this period are notably harder to find in quantity than those from more populous coastal provinces, reflecting both lower print runs and higher rates of post-abolition discard.