There is a tension-displaced body on the right bank of a reservoir at a hydropower station. A construction road was excavated through the lower part of the precipitous hillside of the tension-displaced body. A local slump involved a volume of 1000 m3 occurred on the completion of the construction road on May 2003. On the basis of a great number of field observations

a comprehensive conceptual model is proposed

which states that the quick unloading resulted in a mass of relaxing rocks due to the self-weight and tectonic stresses. The blasting operation and cutting of the construction road generated stress concentration in the slope. The shallow landslide occurred after intense rains and the deformation of tension displaced body develops gradually upward.