500 Grams - Coarse Grains Stamp Zibo, Shandong

Grain ration coupons issued by municipal-level grain bureaus were a structural feature of China's planned distribution system, which persisted in many cities well past the reforms of the 1980s. Zibo, an industrial center in central Shandong built substantially around its ceramics and petrochemical sectors, maintained localized grain allocation well into the early 1990s — a sign of how unevenly market liberalization reached different parts of the country. National grain rationing was formally abolished in 1993, making 1990 issues like this one among the final cohort of municipal coupons produced before the system collapsed.