The present paper introduced an indigenous farming system, which is called “Biangoubeigou” and “Tiaoshamiantu” by local farmers in Sichuan hill region, the Upper Yangtze River basin of China. A field survey, interviews with farmers and local governors, and soil core sampling along the slope transect for 137Cs assessment of net soil loss were carried out in Jiajia Village in the winter of 2002. The field annual net soil loss estimated by 137Cs technique was about 2415 t∙km-2∙yr-1 in the “Tiaoshamiantu”-and- “Biangoubeigou”–applying sloping land. Compared with the highest on-site point soil loss of more than 10 580 t∙km-2∙yr-1 by the 137Cs technique in this study and field erosion rate of 4221 t∙km-2∙yr-1 from other plot monitoring studies in the similar area, this traditional and indigenous farming system has effectively conserved soil on the sloping land in the past centuries.