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.
Sansui County is located in the east of Guizhou Province and belongs to Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture. It is located between 108 °32 east longitude and 109 °04 'north latitude, 27 °04' north latitude, adjacent to Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County in Hunan Province in the northeast, Tianzhu and Jianhe counties in the southeast and southwest, and Zhenyuan County in the north. As one of the eastern exits of Guizhou Province, it is known as "Qiandong Fortress" and "Qianli Miaojiang Gateway". The county has jurisdiction over 7 towns, 2 townships, 159 villages and 5 residential communities, with a total area of 1035.8 square kilometers and a total population of 221907 (2013). The county people's government is stationed in Bagong, 87 kilometers away from the state capital Kaili and 247 kilometers away from the provincial capital Guiyang. Sansui has superior natural endowment and is the "hometown of Chinese Folk Bamboo Weaving Art" named by the Ministry of Culture, 1972.