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5 Shi Liang - Hunan Province Food Stamp
| Issuer | Hunan Province Food Bureau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1974 |
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| Size | 73 x 34 mm |
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| Obverse description | Vignette of a multi-arch road bridge with a train crossing, rendered in purple letterpress at right; at left, a green guilloche rosette carries the denomination characters 伍市两 in black overprint. The year 1974 appears in a decorative panel at the lower centre, with the numeral 0.5 at lower right. Provincial title 湖南省粮票 runs along the upper margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 湖南省粮票 伍市两 1974 (Translation: Hunan Province Food Stamp 5 Shi Liang 1974) |
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| Comments |
Chinese provincial food stamps (liangpiao) were rationing instruments, not currency — yet they functioned as a parallel exchange medium throughout the Maoist period, trading informally for goods and occasionally for cash. Hunan Province operated its own rationing system distinct from the national grain coupons issued by the central government, meaning this stamp was only valid within provincial borders. A traveler crossing into Guangdong with Hunan ration coupons was effectively holding worthless paper.
1974 places this squarely in the late Cultural Revolution, when bureaucratic printing was deliberately austere. Collectible survival depends almost entirely on whether local grain offices bothered to cancel and retain rather than pulp.