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5 Shi Liang - Gansu Province Food Stamp
| Issuer | Gansu Province People's Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1974 |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Light green toned paper printed in green, brown, and black inks; central vignette of the Zhongshan Bridge spanning the Huang He river. Provincial title in Chinese characters appears at top, denomination at lower left, and year at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 甘肃省粮票 伍市两 1974 (Translation: Gansu Province Food Stamp 5 Shi Liang (250 grams) 1974) |
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| Comments |
Chinese provincial food stamps (粮票) were ration instruments, not currency, but they functioned as a parallel economy during the Mao-era rationing system that ran from 1955 until the early 1990s. Gansu, one of China's poorest and most food-insecure provinces, issued its own series redeemable only within provincial borders — holders traveling outside needed national-issue stamps (全国粮票) instead, a distinction that mattered enormously in daily life.
The 1974 date places this squarely in the late Cultural Revolution period, when provincial administrative capacity was severely disrupted. That such stamps were printed and distributed reliably enough to function says something about how essential the grain rationing infrastructure was, even when other government systems had largely broken down.