The name Manchuria was applied by the Japanese to the region and derived from that of the Manchus, a Mongoloid people ethnologically similar to the Tungus. Nowadays, the name is regarded as offensive by Chinese people.

The Manchurian Plain was host to numerous warlike nomadic tribes. The Chinese Han dynasty (206 bc-ad 220) maintained a military presence and colonies in the territory, but after its collapse succeeding dynasties had only limited control over southern Dongbei. By 712 native Tungus peoples had established the Kingdom of Pohai, which nearly controlled all of Dongbei and northern Korea. Pohai was overthrown in 926 by a Mongol sub-group called the Khitans, who built their own empire under the Liao dynasty. The Khitan empire was destroyed by the Juchen tribes, who proclaimed their own Jin dynasty in 1115, overrunning northern China (1126) and forcing the Song into a southern rump state, the Southern Song dynasty. The Jin dynasty was in turn destroyed in 1234 by the Mongols who by that time incorporated Dongbei and China into their own extensive possessions.

The Ming dynasty, which threw off Mongol rule in 1368, re-established Chinese control of Dongbei. But as the Ming were weakening, the Juchen tribes consolidated and unified. Under a new name, the Manchu, they became a rather aggressive power - in 1644 they invaded China and established the Manchu, or Qing, dynasty. The Manchu dynasty was known for its shamanism, opium and tigers. The Manchu imperial symbol was a tiger with a ball of opium in its mouth. Qin dynasty which ruled China until 1912.