The so-called "white mountain and black water" actually refers to Changbai Mountain and Heilongjiang in the northeast. Because the ethnic minorities living in the northeast in history regard Changbai Mountain and Heilongjiang as their sacred mountains, which are the most important local mountains and rivers and nourish the people in the northeast for generations, they also use Baishan Blackwater to refer to the northeast.

Changbai Mountain is a boundary mountain located in the northeast of China and the border of North Korea. Broadly speaking, it refers to a series of mountains stretching thousands of kilometers from southwest to northeast, crossing the junction of two rivers and roads in Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces and North Korea. Changbai Mountain in a narrow sense refers to its main peak. Changbai Mountain was called Buxian Mountain and Taibai Mountain in ancient times. Manchu people in Qing Dynasty called it "Baishan" or "Baitou Mountain". Modern Koreans and Japanese also called it "Baitou Mountain". The name Changbai Mountain was first used by Wan, and later named "Changbai Mountain" by Jin Juren. It has been circulated for more than 800 years. Jurchen regarded Changbai Mountain as a "land of rise and fall", and named it "the spirit of protecting the country, being king" and "opening heaven as the emperor" successively, and set up temples to offer sacrifices. On the north side of Tianchi Lake in Changbai Mountain, there is still a site of "Jurchen Altar" artificially built with basalt stones, which is used by Jurchen to worship Changbai Mountain. In Manchu mythology, Changbai Mountain is the birthplace of Manchu. According to legend, in ancient times, a fairy bathed in a mountain pond because of eating Zhu Guo, and gave birth to a son, namely Aisingiorro's ancestor Bukuri Yongshun.

Heilongjiang, also known as amur river, is the third largest river in China. Heilongjiang River Basin has been the inland river of China since ancient times and the birthplace of Manchu people. Heilongjiang was called weak water in the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the upper reaches of Heilongjiang River were called hard water after the Songhua River and the two rivers joined. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the lower reaches of Heilongjiang were called Blackwater. Heilongjiang was the territory of China until the Yuan Dynasty, and it belonged to Lingbei Province and Liaoyang Province. The army of the Yuan Dynasty was stationed here and became the inland river of the Yuan Dynasty. /kloc-In the middle and late 9th century, Russia forcibly occupied a large area of territory north of Heilongjiang and east of Wusuli River in China, which became the border river between China and Russia.