The word landlord doesn't really describe "地主" accurately enough, since they weren't just rent seeking parasites, they were more like feudal lords who had power over every aspect of life in the village, with all the exploitation and violence that implies. That's why villagers were so brutal towards most of their landlords because they were frequently engaged in beatings, sexual assault, psychological abuse, dispossession of peasants etc with complete impunity. They were far worse than some petit bourgeois failson who inherited an apartment building from their car dealership dad or something (though they go to gulag too).