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.
Wuzhishan City, which belongs to Hainan Province, is located in the central and southern hinterland of Hainan Island. It is not only the central city and transportation hub of the central region of Hainan Island, but also the settlement of ethnic minorities in the central part of Hainan Province. Wuzhishan City is a famous "Emerald Mountain City", named after Wuzhishan, the highest peak on Hainan Island. There are Wuzhishan Tropical Rain Forest, Hainan ethnic Museum, Qizhiling, Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Cultural Village, Wolong Mountain, Taiping Mountain Waterfall, Qiongzhou College, Hai Rui ancestral House, Qiongya Public School Memorial Pavilion, Yingge Ridge, Ganshiling, ethnic Museum and imitation Guli Village, Baisha uprising Memorial Hall, Xianlong Cave, Li Miao ethnic Song and Dance Corridor, wooden tourist Resort and other scenic spots. During the period of Autonomous Prefecture, Wuzhishan was the economic, political and cultural center in the south of Hainan Island, and Tongshi was the capital of the Autonomous Prefecture.