粮食是国家的重要物资，历代政府将如何掌管粮食视作影响国计民生的问题，从均输平准到漕粮海运，再到民国时期统制经济的实施，无一不与粮食管理有关。中国共产党从革命战争年代即开始进行粮食管理，积累了经验。新中国成立后，粮食管理需与时俱进，密切配合计划经济、国家建设等重大规划。考察粮食管理的理论与实践需在一定的空间内展开。中国幅员辽阔，各地自然环境、生产条件、经济基础和市场交易传统不一，实际情况千差万别。对不同地区进行个案实证研究，既有助于呈现历史的复杂性和多样性，也可深度关注国家经济体制变化、农业集体化形成等核心议题。本文借助县这一单位，关注农牧交界的冀西北赤城县，考察当地1949年至1959年间的粮食管理。为体现历史的延续性，对粮食管理的考察也会兼顾1949年前的情况。赤城县现隶属于张家口市，有“八山一水一分田”之称，当地居民生计以农业为大宗，历史时期主要作物有谷子、玉米、高粱等。

研究县级粮食管理，首先应着眼于当地粮食机构的设置及政策执行情况。赤城县粮食机构的设置遵循自上而下的原则，这样的垂直管理构建，意味着粮食政策的出台具有层级性，最终由基层政府实施。因不同层级的政府对政策的理解各有差异，基层执行者难以精准地把握实践尺度，导致粮食政策的实践具有差异性。在运动盛行的特殊年代，基层执行者或因自身性格特点，或出于人性考量，有时也会发挥主体能动性，这使得不同县的粮食管理既有共性，也有特性。

粮食从征购、供应、销售到调运，无不处于政府主导之下。每一管理环节均依照城乡人口制定相应政策，折射了工农业的区分及城乡二元经济结构的形成。区分城乡的过程，也是身份识别的过程，民众的年龄、职业、性别等成为判定供应数量的标准。

1949年后，新生的人民政权起初与从事粮食经营的工商业者合作，共同经销；随着计划经济体制的建立，粮食经营权限不断地被国家收归，私人经营被禁止，与粮食有关的价格、市场等全部被政府垄断，粮食领域由此成为计划经济时代的核心所在。

政府通过设置粮食机构，对粮食流通的各环节加强管理，较大程度地保障了民众的日常需要，提供了应对灾荒、贫困等的粮食资源。囿于政府高度管控，当代中国的粮食管理体制比较刚性。为使政策能够贯彻落实，地方管理中也会灵活地加以变通，这使得党和国家的粮食政策不断改进，进而保障了“以粮为纲”战略的实施。总之，计划经济时期的粮食管理，不仅改变着经历过那段时间的民众日常生活，也对其时中国经济的走向、其他领域的政策产生了深远影响。

Grain is an important material of the country, and the governments of successive dynasties regarded how to manage grain as an issue affecting the national economy and people's livelihood. From the economic theory of transporting tribute and price management and theory of level standard to grain transportation by sea, to the implementation of controlled economy in the Republic of China, all of them were related to grain management. The Communist Party of China has accumulated experience in grain management since the revolutionary and war years. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, food management needs to keep pace with the times and closely cooperate with major plans such as planned economy and national construction. With the continuous strengthening of the Party and the state on grain management, the concept and category of grain have also undergone corresponding changes, and grain management has presented new characteristics.

The theory and practice of food management should be explored in a certain space. China is a vast country with different natural environments, production conditions, economic bases and market trading traditions. Empirical studies of different regions not only help to present the complexity and diversity of history, but also can deeply focus on the core issues such as the change of national economic system and the formation of agricultural collectivization. With the help of county, this paper focuses on Chicheng County in northwest Hebei Province, where agriculture and animal husbandry meet, and investigates the local grain management from 1949 to 1959. In order to reflect historical continuity, the examination of food management will also take into account the situation before 1949. Chicheng County is now under the Zhangjiakou City, known as "80% mountains, 10% water and 10% field", the local people's livelihood is based on agriculture, the main crops in the historical period are millet, corn, sorghum and so on.

A study of county-level grain management should first focus on the setup of local grain agencies and the implementation of policies. In Chicheng County, the setup of food institutions follows the top-down principle, and such a vertical management structure means that food policies are introduced at a hierarchical level and are ultimately implemented by the grassroots government. As different levels of government have different understandings of the policy, it is difficult for grassroots implementers to accurately grasp the scale of practice, leading to variability in the practice of food policy. In the special era when movements were prevalent, grassroots implementers, either because of their own personality traits or out of human considerations, sometimes exercised subjective initiative, which led to both commonalities and peculiarities in food management in different counties.

Grain procurement, supply, sales and transportation are all under the government's leadership. Each management link formulates corresponding policies according to urban and rural population, reflecting the distinction between industry and agriculture and the formation of urban-rural dual economic structure. The process of distinguishing between urban and rural areas is also a process of identification, and people's age, occupation, gender become the criteria for determining the quantity of supply.

After 1949, the newborn people's government initially cooperated with industrialists and businessmen engaged in the grain business and jointly distributed it; with the establishment of the planned economy system, the authority to operate grain was constantly taken back by the State, private business was prohibited, and all prices and markets related to grain were monopolised by the Government, thus making the grain sector the core of the planned economy era.

By establishing food institutions and strengthening the management of all aspects of food distribution, the government has to a greater extent ensured the daily needs of the population and provided food resources to cope with disasters, poverty, and so on. Due to the high degree of government control, the food management system in contemporary China is relatively rigid. In order to ensure the implementation of policies, local administrations are flexible and adaptable, which has led to continuous improvement of the Party and State's food policy, and thus ensured the implementation of the "take grain as the key link" strategy. In short, grain management during the planned economy not only changed the daily lives of the people who lived through it, but also had a profound impact on the direction of the Chinese economy and policies in other areas.