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.
Liping County, under the jurisdiction of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, is located in the southeast of Guizhou Province, south of Qiandongnan Prefecture, east of Jingzhou Miao Dong Autonomous County and Tong Dong Autonomous County of Hunan Province, Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region in the south, Rongjiang County and Congjiang County of Qiandongnan Prefecture in the west, Jinping County and Jianhe County of Qiandongnan Prefecture in the north. Liping County is the largest county with the largest area and the largest population in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, of which the Dong nationality accounts for about 71% of the total population of the county. It is the county with the largest population of the Dong nationality in China, and it is also the main birthplace of Dong culture, so it has the laudatory name of "the capital of Dong township". Liping is a famous historical and cultural city at the provincial level. the government stationed in Defeng was founded in the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. The ancient city is well preserved, with the "oil pot of Shanhai granary".