The county covers both banks of the middle section of the Lu-chu. The country town and adjacent Jonê Monastery are on the north bank. The side valleys on the southern side used to be branches of the ancient kingdom of Jonê.
Among Tibetan at Amdo, Jonê exist The Zhouni Tusi, ruled by the Tibetan Ga clan or Mandarin Chinese Yang clan, was a Tusi chiefdom kingdom called Zhouni Kingdom, Choni Kingdom, or Jonê Kingdom ruled by the Gatsang family at Tibet. In 1404, whereupon they informed the Ming Emperor Yongle of this fact and were recognized as local rulers, and were given a seal of authority and the surname Yang. The Yangs ruled Zhouni from 1404 until 1949.
Jonê was part of a separate kingdom formed, according to legend, after its invasion by warriors who migrated across the mountains from Szechuan conquering the local tribes in 1404. The contemporary descendants of the Jonê royal line claim that their line is Tibetan, and that their ancestors migrated from central Tibet through Sichuan. The Yongle Emperor named one of these invading warriors hereditary chief called Zhouni Tusi, bestowing the family name of "Yang" and an imperial seal upon his line. The Jonê king established a palace on the north bank of the Tao River. The family holding the Yang seal continued to rule over 48 Tibetan clans in Jonê as an autonomous kingdom from the early 15th century for 23 generations, until 1928, when it was placed under the control of the Lanchow government. In the late Qing Dynasty and Republican Period, many nomadic regions had considerable de facto independence, despite the claims and perspective of the Chinese rulers. Among the six monasteries in the county, all of them Tibetan Geluk establishments, is the great Jonê Monastery. The American botanist Joseph Rock spent almost 2 years in Jonê in 1925-26. He resided in the compound of the local chief , making it the base for his exploration of southern Gansu and eastern Qinghai. His account of the culture of this "almost unknown Tibetan principality", as he described it, illustrated with color photographs, was published in the National Geographic. As of 2012, Jonê was apparently closed to foreign visitors.
