On the basis of the deep geology and the geological structure of Huangtupo landslide, an ancient landslide in the reservoir of the Three Gorges, the geo-environmental model of the landslide is established to analyze quantitatively the sliding mechanism by using the discrete element method. It is concluded that interbedding structure of soft and hard formation consists of the main geological background,which induced the arching of the formation under gravity. Stability analysis of different loadings shows that the ground building weight on the middle slope may restrain the extension of shear sliding zone below, but may activate the foot area which will reduce the safety factor of the front.