In Chinese, the name is written with the characters 迪 (dí) and 庆 (qìng), which mean "to enlighten" and "to celebrate", respectively.

མཇོལ་རྫོང་། Jol Zong mjol rdzong This prefecture is in the southern part of a historical region called Kham, which belonged to the Tibetan Empire many centuries ago.

After the decline of that empire in the 9th century, peripheral areas like southern Kham remained part of Tibet more in an ethnographical than a political sense.

Then it was controlled by Governor and warlord Long (Lung) Yun until near the end of the Chinese Civil War, when Du Yuming removed him under the order of Chiang Kai-shek.

On January 11, 2014, there was a major fire in the 1,000-year-old Dukezong Tibetan neighborhood of the capital city Shangri-La, causing much damage and hardship.