During the Qianlong period, tenant Shen Daosheng held a five-generation, century-old lease and confronted the new owner Chen Wanjin in court. County Magistrate Wei Mingyuan's ruling that "the land will always be tenanted, the owner can change, but the tenants are not easy" temporarily saved the Shen family's livelihood. However, the separation of bone and skin, the struggle between old contracts and banknotes, has just begun under the undercurrent of the times. What Shen Daosheng holds in his hands is the weight of a century-old contract and a precarious future.
