Tibet Autonomous Region Grain Ration Coupons

Grain coupons were issued only irregularly with two issues in 1960, military and civil, the civil ones featuring a truck with a plow, 1963 (animal feed grain) with a yak and the Potala palace in the back, 1966 (only for military personnel) with trucks on a mountain road, 1973 with sheep herds, a Tibetan couple at harvest with sickles, and (hard to believe!) a woman steering a tractor (!), 1976 (for socialist workers) showing modern communist architecture, with value 7 jin showing the Potala and 1996 (only for military personnel) with a mixture of communist achievement: trucks on a road and modern harvest machinery, and local specific themes: Yaks, Mount Everest and Potala Palace.

It is not known exactly how long the coupons were in use, but there are hints to the coupons being used many years, not only in the year of their issuing. The military grain coupon from 1966 for example exists with an overprint of a quotation from Mao Tsedong's collected works, a practice which started all over China in 1968. This shows that those 1966 coupon were in use also in 1968 and then overstamped. Also the 1973 grain coupons are on very good banknote paper with watermark, showing that the coupons were printed for long time use.

Anyway most rationing in Tibet did NOT happen through coupons but by grain books (liang ben), which were distributed to all families and where the names, age and occupation of all members were registered. Whenever purchasing grain, the received amount of grain was noted down in the book until the ration for the family was used up. Then no more grain could be bought.

Here the complete grain coupons of Tibet (some values of the 1960 military ones are missing).

 

 

1996

buy

Bod rang skyong ljongs bzo rigs ched spyod kyi 'bru 'dzin.

Grain coupon of workers of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

1976
Values 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 19, 22 rgya ma (pounds)

Bod rang skyong ljongs kyi 'bru'i phi'o.

Grain coupon of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

1973
Values 0,1/ 0,2/ 0,5/ 1/ 2/ 5 rgya ma (pounds)

Bod rang skyong ljongs sgra sgrig u yon lhan khang khongs bza' 'bru cus kyi sa gnas gzan chag gi lag 'khyer.
Regional fodder coupon of the Food and grain office of the Preparatory committee of the Autonomous Region of Tibet.

1962

1/ 2/ 5 rgya ma (pounds)

Tibet Autonomous Region Cloth Ration Coupons

The cloth  coupons (tib.: ras, chin.: bu) were issued from 1960 (some claim even to have a 1958 set, but according to some experts both issues are fake!), to 1984 every year without break. The issues 1960-1965 feature the Potala palace, starting with the issue 9.1965 until 1969 they feature yaks plowing a field. This is in stark contrast to the ration coupons of other Chinese provinces, where we find motives of socialist/ communist achievements and modernization: ships, plains, railway, trucks, tractors, power plants, modern industrial plants, and then like. Seems that the Autonomy of the TAR found it’s expression here. :-)
The issues 1970 and 1971 feature a rising sun and with the issue 1972 the standardized all over China similar cloth coupons series start in fairly similar plain design until 1984.
Only the years 1974, 1975 and 1976 have a vertical format (making it easy to mix them with cotton coupons (which during exactly those years are horizontal and in all other years vertical - except the first edition of 1969).
The issues 1968 to 1971 feature “supreme teachings” or quotations of chairman Mao like “serve the masses” (1968 and 1969), or “the revolution has to be done economically” (1970 and 1971). Those coupons with yulu (Maos collected works quotations) are more expensive now in China since they are collected not only by ration coupons collectors bat also by Mao-nostalgia devotionals collectors.
All the issues 1960 - 1971 show 7 different values for each year of 1, 2 and 5 tshon (chin.: cun) showing the numerals 0,1/ 0,2/ 0,5 and 1, 2, 5 and 10 khre tse (chin.: chi).

The issues 1972-1984 only have 6 values, 1 (0,1), 2 (0,2) and 5 (0,5) tshon and 1, 5 and 10 khre tse.

Tibet Autonomous Region Cotton Ration Coupons

The issuing of (tib.: sring bal, chin.: mian hua) coupons started only in 1969 with issues uninterupted until 1984. Mian hua is unprocessed (unwoven) cotton, that is used for filling for bedding, fillings for blankets and cushions, fillings for coats, hats and gloves, and the like.
Issues 1969, 1974, 1975 and 1976 are in a horizontal format (making it easy to mix them up with the cloth coupons of those respective years), all other years in a vertical format.
The issues 1969, 1970 and 1971 have quotations from Maos collected works (yulu). 1969 has “the revolution has to be done economically” as well a kind of prayer “may Chairman Mao live forever”, a prayer that is usually used in a Tibetan context for the long life of high Lamas like His Holiness. The years 1970 and 1971 feature as a “supreme teaching” (1970) or “from Chairman Mao’s collected works” (1971) the same quotation: “adhering to the revolution, the economy has to be developed”.
All years of cotton coupons from 1969 until 1984 only seem to have 4 different values for each year: 1 sang (0,1), 2 sang (0,2) and 5 sang (0,5) and 1 rgya ma. 1 sang (chin.: liang) is 50 g, 1 rgya ma (chin.: jin) is 500 g.

Tibet Autonomous Region Oil Ration Coupons

Tibet Autonomous Region Other Ration Coupons