China / 1960s–1990s
Ration coupons and books
A small paper permission
A scanned 1975 Hebei grain coupon. It is a specific provincial issue, not a national sample of rationing.
Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons at a 1600px rendering; converted to a JPEG working master and a WebP reading copy, maximum 1400px, quality 80; no content retouching.
Small printed coupons connect a household to a much larger system of allocation. The Hong Kong Museum of History's 2011 exhibition brought together ration coupons and books used in mainland China between the 1960s and 1990s, covering food, rice, flour, fabric and industrial goods. Their denominations, validity and printed categories made administrative rules tangible. This entry treats coupons as a family of documents rather than one universal national design. An individual ticket needs its own issuing place, date and conditions before its meaning can be established.
- Date
- 1960s–1990s
- Maker / designer
- Various issuing authorities
- Material
- Printed paper
- Context
- Documents of allocation in the People's Republic of China; examples vary by place, period and commodity.
Evidence: Date is a period or later photograph · Place recorded at country level
Historical record
- The 2011 Hong Kong Museum of History exhibition included coupons used from the 1960s to the 1990s.
- Categories included food, rice, flour, fabric and industrial goods.