Mínzhōu

Minzhou was a frontier prefecture on the Tao River in southern Gansu, named for the Min Mountains. Under the Yuan it was the seat of the Tuosima route governing Amdo.

The Ming made Minzhou a guard in 1378 and a military-civilian commission in 1382, with hereditary native commanders including the Wang family. It briefly became a department in 1545 before reverting to a guard in 1561; the Qing restored civilian administration in 1730.