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500 Grams - Food Stamps Suzhou City, Jiangsu
| Issuer | Suzhou City Grain Bureau, Jiangsu Province |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992 |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Light blue and orange guilloche underprint covers the entire field. Large Chinese characters 伍佰克 (500 grams) printed in dark green at left-centre, with a vignette of a traditional Suzhou waterfront dwelling and willow tree to the right. Denomination numerals 500 appear at all four corners, with the issuer title 苏州市购粮券 across the top and year date 1992 along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse printed with usage instructions in simplified Chinese script, arranged in numbered paragraphs. An official red administrative stamp of the local grain authority is applied. Text is set in a straightforward typeset layout without decorative vignettes or guilloche elements. |
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| Comments |
Chinese municipal grain ration coupons of this type were administrative instruments, not currency — issued by local grain bureaus under the state rationing system that had governed food distribution since the early 1950s. By 1992, that system was already being dismantled; national grain rationing was formally abolished in 1993, making late-issue coupons like this one among the last produced before the entire apparatus collapsed. Suzhou's bureau would have printed these with a very short operational window in mind.
Collectors of liangpiao increasingly prize municipal issues over provincial ones for their localized variation and low print runs.