5 Shi Jin - Shanxi Province Food Stamp

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.