In analyzing landscape heterogeneity in a typical area, appropriate selection of characteristic scale is very important. In this paper, Gongyi City, located in mountainous and hilly area of western Henan Province, has been chosen as our study area. Based on 3S technology, the landscape composition and structure of this area are analyzed. Meanwhile, the characteristic scale of landscape heterogeneity is determined by using the semi-variable function and moving window method. According to the characteristic scale, we selected two sample lines, which extend from the direction of NW to SE and the direction of NE to SW. These two sampled lines are set to analyze the spatial characteristics of landscape heterogeneity under different disturbances. Finally, the results show that landscape of the study area mainly consists of dry land, construction land, irrigated land, grassland and woodland. Among these landscape types, the dry lands have the largest proportion, accounting for 30.9% of the whole area, while the irrigation canals have the least area proportion, accounting for 0.1% of the whole area. Based on the semi-variable function and the moving window method, the characteristic scale for analyzing landscape heterogeneity of the study area is 1000 m. Under this characteristic scale, the landscape fragmentation of the study area is mainly concentrated in the valley plain and hilly regions of the southeastern part of the Gongyi City. The lowest fragmentation regions are in the forestland of southern hilly area of Gongyi City. Landscape diversity of the study area is characterized by four gathering centers, which are the northern valley plain agricultural area, constructed urban areas, the southeast hills and the low mountains in southern area. The first center exhibits the highest landscape diversity, while the landscape diversity of the other three is of the lowest. Under the influence of different disturbances, the landscape heterogeneity of the study area show features of radiating from the city center to surrounding rural area. In addition, landscape heterogeneity is also related to altitude in hilly regions. We find that the landscape heterogeneity has dramatic changes below 200 m because of strong human disturbance. However, at the altitude of 200-500 m, human disturbance and altitude are combined to affect the landscape heterogeneity. In addition, at 500 meters above sea level, altitude is the dominant factor in influencing landscape heterogeneity. The results of this study can provide valuable guidance for further study on landscape pattern optimization and efficient management of land use in the mountainous and hilly area of western Henan Province.