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.
Changting County (Tingzhou Prefecture), referred to as "Ting" for short, belongs to Fujian Province, where the red flag jumps over the Tingjiang River in the central Soviet area. It is located in the west of Fujian Province, at the southern foot of the Wuyi Mountains, bordering Guangdong and Jiangxi in the south; it has been known as the "West Gate of Fujian Province" since ancient times. Changting, known as Tingzhou in the Han Dynasty, has become one of the five major states, seven Fujian and eight Min prefectures in Fujian since Tang Kaiyuan bought Tingzhou in 24. For more than a thousand years since the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, Changting has been the seat of the state, county, road and government, and the scientific and educational cultural center of the "Hakka Culture (West Fujian) Ecological Protection Experimental Zone". Changting, also known as Tingzhou, is the first government-run city inhabited by Hakkas and is known as the "Hakka capital of the world". Changting is also the third batch of national historical and cultural names approved by the State Council.