In old China, people who rented land, houses or other property had to pay security money in advance for their tenancy. According to the usual practice, this security money should be returned to the leaseholder at the termination of the tenancy. However, relying on their power and position, more often than not landlords refused to return the money under one pretext or another. In the early days of the People's Republic of China when the reduction of interest rates and agrarian reform were being carried out, more and more peasants demanded that landlords reimburse the money. The Chinese Communist Party and the People's Government decided that landlords return all security money received in the past, but in practice, some peasants received total reimbursement, others received it in instalments, in some cases it was delayed or reduced and in others no reimbursement was made at all, depending on actual conditions.