Abstract: To study the deformation and failure process of Qingshi landslide located in the Three Gorges reservoir area, a discrete element model was established to simulate this landslide with the PFC2D software under different water levels. The simulation results show that the middle part of the landslide has the largest vertical displacements and velocities at the same time under the water level of 165 m. Besides, the horizontal stresses and strain rates of the landslide toe reach the maximum values firstly in the late period under the water level of 165 m. Qingshi landslide has little deformation under the water level of 145 m. The failure modes are the same under the water levels of 155 m, 165 m and 175 m, and a typical failure process can be divided into 4 periods: weakening and creeping of the slip mass, deformation of the front part, instability and sliding of the middle part, and stabilization of the landslide. In the sliding process, the rock and soil mass near the sliding zone will weaken in strengths to some extent. The simulated steady state of Qingshi landslide is consistent with the measured results in situ under different water levels, i.e. the cracks’appearance and development under the 175 m water level are close to the real situations, with only allowable deviations. It is proved that the deformation and failure process of Qingshi landslide can be simulated satisfactorily with the discrete element method.