A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a more resistant layer or layers of harder rock, e.g. shales overlain by sandstones. The resistant layer acts as a caprock that forms the flat summit of a mesa. The caprock can consist of either sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and limestone; dissected lava flows; or a deeply eroded duricrust. Unlike plateau, whose usage does not imply horizontal layers of bedrock, e.g. Tibetan Plateau, the term mesa applies exclusively to the landforms built of flat-lying strata. Instead, flat-topped plateaus are specifically known as tablelands.
Leishan County, which belongs to Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province, is located in the southwest of Qiandongnan Prefecture, bordering Taijiang, Jianhe and Rongjiang counties in the east, Sandu Shui Autonomous County in Southern Guizhou Buyi Miao Autonomous Prefecture in the south, Danzhai County in the west and Kaili City in the north. It is between 10755 miles east longitude and 108 degrees 22 kilometers east longitude, 26 degrees 02 miles north latitude and 26 degrees 34 degrees north latitude, with a total area of 1218.5 square kilometers. Leishan County has a long history, and its Miao construction, costumes, customs, songs and dances, musical instruments and crafts still retain traditional, ancient and authentic cultural connotations. Leishan County is known as the cultural center of the Miao nationality and is a living textbook of Miao history and culture. The main tourist scenic spots in the territory are the hometown of Chinese folk art, the national key cultural relic protection unit Lang de Shangzhai, and the first village of the Miao nationality in China. "