Muli Tibetan Autonomous County (Chinese: 木里藏族自治县; pinyin: Mùlǐ Zàngzú Zìzhìxiàn; Tibetan: སྨི་ལི་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་རྫོང smi-li rang-skyong-rdzong; Yi: ꃆꆹꀒꋤꊨꏦꏱꅉꑤ mup li op zzup zyt jie jux dde xiep) is in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the southwest of Sichuan province, China, bordering Yunnan province to the southwest.

It is near a modern small town called Wachang, located high up on the western edge of the Litang River Valley at about 3000 metres altitude.

He befriended the then lama king, Chote Chaba, and used the monastery as a base for exploring and plant collecting in the then unvisited regions of Mount Gongga and Yading.

Joseph Rock wrote colourful accounts of his encounters with the eccentric lama ruler of Muli in National Geographic.

The inhabitants of Muli include many of China's minorities, predominantly Tibetan and Yi as well as Pumi and Naxi people.

The remote location and low population have allowed many protected species to survive here, including the white-lipped deer and stump-tailed macaque.