The name "Mong Kung" means "town producing horse saddlery" in Shan, and has been transliterated into Burmese as Maingkaing.

It was bounded on the north by Hsi Paw; on the east by Mong Tung, Kehsi Mansam and Mong Nawng; on the south by Lai Hka; and on the west by the western range of the Shan Hills and Lawk Sawk.

It was described by Sir Charles Haukes Todd during the colonial period as: ...a State blessed with very fertile soil and good streams.

[2] In the popular Shan folktale Khun San Law and Nan Oo Pyin, Mong Kung is the hometown of the female character, Nan Oo Pyin.

[3] More recently the area has been ravaged by conflicts between the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) and the Burmese Army.