Athirdcharcteristicofsharecontractsisthattherentalpercentagemayvaryamongdifferentcropsinonecontract（seesamplee）.Asisimpliedbythetheoryofsharetenancy,therentalpercentageisoland,thesharingpercentageexpressedintermsofasingle（weightedtimeaverage）rentalpercentage,uniformforallcrops,（seecontractsampled）,ifatenantissubjecttodismissalatanytimeintheeventofpoorperformance,theuseofoneuniformrentalpercentageforcropsharvestedatdifferentseasonswouldbelikelyspecifiedduration,andthat,whenmultiplepercentagesarefoundinaleasewithindefiniteduration,auniformpercentageisusuallyusedfordifferentcropsharvestedinthesameseason（seecontractsamplee）.

Wemaysummarizethecharacteristicsofsharecontractsbyquotingtheobservationmadebytwowriters-whowerecriticaloftenantfarminginChina:

Underthesystemofsharerent,theyieldsaftereachharvestaretobesharedaccordingtocert,thetenantisrequi,thetenantisevenrequiredtofurnishfarmingequipment……p……Besidestheabove,theonlyaffairofmanagementoverwhichthelandown[16]

[1].,FarmOwnershipandTenancyinChina（Shanghai:NationalChristianCouncil,1927）.

[2].NationalGovernment,StatisticsDepartment,StatisticalAnalysisofTenancySystemsinChina（China:ChengChungBookStore,1942）,www.youxs.org.

[3].Pe-YuChangandYin-YuenWang,QuestionsofFarmTenancyinChina（Chungking:CommercialPress,1943）,www.youxs.org.

[4].NationalGovernment,StatisticalAnalysis,www.youxs.org.

[5].Seeibid.,www.youxs.org；andChangandWang,QuestionsofFarmTenancy,www.youxs.org.

[6].DepartmentofRealEstates,ChinaEconomicYearbook（China,1936）,www.youxs.org.

[7].ExecutiveYuan,ChangesinLandRights（China,1942）,www.youxs.org.

[8].Unfortunately,Ihavenotbeenabletofinddatathatwouldconfirmorrefutethisstatement.

[9].Notethatwithasharecontractthelandownernotonlysharesthepossiblelossinabadyear,butalsothegainofagoodharvestwhichwillreducetheriskpremiumbyafraction.

[10].SeetheUniversityofNanking,RentalSystemsinFourProvinces（Nanking,1936）,www.youxs.org.

[11].NationalGovernment,StatisticalAnalysis,www.youxs.org.

[12].ChangandWang,QuestionsofFarmTenancy,www.youxs.org.

[13].Ibid.,www.youxs.org.

[14].Sa,accordingtoeconomictheory,tenantinputsarestipulatedinasharecontract,Ididnotmentionthestipulationofmultiplecropplantationsbecauseonlyonemutuallyagreedproductwasassumed.

[15].www.youxs.org（Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,1930）,www.youxs.org.

[16].ChangandWang,QuestionsofFarmTenancy,www.youxs.org（Shanghai:CommercialPress,1936）；Chi-MingChiao,ASocialandEconomicStudyofFarmVillagesinChina（Nanking:UniversityofNanking,1938）,；andChinaEconomicResearchDepartment,SourceMaterialsofRecentChineseAgriculturalHistory,1912-27（Peking:UnitedBookStore,1957）,www.youxs.org.

www.youxs.org

AninvestigationconductedinChina（1934）,coveringatotalofninety-threeprefecturesineightprovinces,showsthatthedis-tributionofleasedurationswasasfollows:29percentofthetenantcontractswereindefinite（thatis,unspecifiedandusuallyterminableaftereveryharvest）,25percentannualleases,27per-centfromthreetotenyears,8percentfromtentotwentyyears,and11percentwereperpetualleases.[1],astipulatedleasedurationmeansonlythattenancymayno,asthefrequencyofshort-termleaseshasbeenusedtoillustratetheturnoverrateoftenancy,itshoul[2]

Intheliteratureonlandtenure,twoargumentshavebeenmonlyusedinsupportoftheallegedinefficiencyofleasedurationsoflessthantenyears.[3]Oneofthemclaimsthatshortdura,althoughundesirableforthetenant,mayprovideastimulustofarmingactivity.[4]Anowerthanonownerfarms;norhasanyevidencebeenofferedtoshowthat,inChina,productivityundertenancyvarieswiththedurationofaleasingcontract.