Abstract: By interpreting 123 contracts of the family of Li Rusong of Xia Village, Nanhua County, this paper analyzes the property attributes of land of the folks of west Yunnan. These contracts form a complete collection of a family’s contracts that record the life of a typical merchant family in the rural society. They show us how land was exchanged into silver (currency at that time), how folk merchants in the rural social strata invested and raised funds, and how they avoided depreciation or even achieved appreciation by converting land into other forms of property. These contracts are valuable literature to understand rural social life in west Yunnan.

Key words: Zhennan County, the Li Rusong family, contract, property conversion, rural society