Abstract: The protection and development of traditional villages in mountainous areas are in urgent need of joint promotion of the government and social forces due to the villages' limited conditions. As designers, in the initial stage of village protection and development, we can build a communication platform with the government and villagers by organizing' participatory design', and explore the appropriate path for the protection and development of traditional villages in mountainous areas. In this study, Zhanjiawan, a traditional village in the typical mountainous area of Southern Shaanxi Province, was taken as a pilot project to carry out participatory design practice and complete the renewal design scheme of the village. Through the summary and reflection of the design process, it is proposed that the initial intervention model dominated by the government in the early stage gradually changes to the multi participation model with the villagers as the main body, and finally achieves the goal of promoting the spontaneous protection and development of the village by relying on the self-organization and endogenous force.