Têwo

Têwo occupies the forested mountain valleys of the upper Bailong River in southern Gansu. Tibetan communities lived here between the high grasslands and the deep river gorges. In the early Ming period the Chone chieftain Xiedi brought eighteen local groups under his authority before moving east toward Chone, where he received an hereditary title in 1418. Another hereditary family, the Zhao, ruled part of the region; in 1726 the Qing replaced its chieftaincy with direct administration under Minzhou.