Chone District Mission (1934-1936)

Abstract

The Chone District Mission卓尼区会was a short-term sub-entity of the Northwest China Union Mission. Its territory spanned the southeast portion of Qinghai province and the southwest portion of Gansu province, a very mountainous and picturesque district through which flowed the Taohe River. The population was composed of Han Chinese, Muslims, and Tibetans who had migrated north into China. The Tibetans were known as Chone (otherwise Cone, Choni, Zhuoni Xian 卓尼县, or Jonê). Local Chinese called them Sangemao 三根毛, meaning “three bundles of hair” because it was the custom for the women to wear their hair in three thick plaits.