Guizhou Province in southwestern China is located with the Circum-Pacific Global Mercuriferrous Belt. A number of mercury and other metals (such as gold, Zinc) mines are occurred in this region. As a result, the background mercury concentrations in soil in Guizhou are significantly elevated compared to the average value in Chinese soil. Both mercury and zinc smelting activities in Guizhou emitted a great amount of mercury to the environment, and caused seriously mercury contamination to the local environment and food chains. Due to the special geological background, mercury concentrations in coal in this province are much higher that from other provinces in China, and coal combustion from both industrial utilities and domestic uses are important atmospheric Hg emission sources in this region. We also conducted an intensive study on mercury emission fluxes from soil in Lanmuchang mercury mining area and in Guiyang, and obtained much elevated Hg emission fluxes. Our measurement results demonstrated that both natural processes and human activities in SW China, especially Guizhou, emit a great amount of Hg to the atmosphere, therefore this area is an important global atmospheric emission source. Our study showed that mercury mining and artisanal zinc smelting activities in Guizhou cause seriously mercury contaminations to the local ecosystem, and also pose health threat to local inhabitants. Studies related to ecological risk assessment at Hg contaminated sites and to environmental remediation in Hg contaminated areas in Guizhou are urgently needed.

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