Ticket collection and investment

Author: Lu Keqin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features:
Vouchers were a crucial part of China's planned economy during the years of extreme scarcity. They served as proof for purchasing essential goods like food, clothing, and daily necessities through rationing, hence earning the nickname "second currency." These vouchers were incredibly diverse, ranging from everyday essentials such as grain tickets, cloth tickets, cooking oil tickets, cotton tickets, meat tickets, fish tickets, sugar tickets, salt tickets, tobacco tickets, alcohol tickets, coal tickets, firewood tickets, and shoe tickets, to rarer items like battery tickets, foot basin tickets, stool tickets, umbrella tickets, enamel cup tickets, and iron pot tickets. There were also highly coveted vouchers for items like watches, bicycles, sewing machine tickets, television tickets, wardrobe tickets, and private room bed tickets. At the time, people considered these vouchers their "lifeline" or "life tickets."