自古以來，蒙古與滿洲地區就是珍貴毛皮的主要產地，明代亦不例外。明代境外所輸入的珍貴毛皮，如紫貂、猞猁、海獺等，就主要來自於這兩個地方。其中，來自滿洲東北部的紫貂皮尤其受到喜愛。這兩個地區毛皮的輸入中國，主要有兩個管道，其一是透過朝貢體制及其所附加的貿易，另外則是在邊境上的不定期或定期的貿易。由於明朝與蒙古雙方敵對，外交關係與邊境貿易並不穩定，時斷時續，在1502-1571年間，除了1551-1552年外，完全沒有外交往來與邊境貿易。1571年後，雙方在邊境上重新展開貿易，直至明朝滅亡。滿洲方面，由於雙方的關係較為和平，從1402年以後，朝貢關係與邊境貿易持續發展，直至1620年代奴兒哈赤統一滿洲為止，外交與貿易關係才斷絕，故滿洲地區輸入的毛皮，應是比較重要、且數量較大的。整體而言，在1570-1620年代，經由兩地輸入的毛皮數量，可能是整個明朝最多的階段，而此也引發國內穿著奢侈毛皮的情況比以前增加。1620年代以後，滿洲毛皮輸入量極少，價格大漲，商人甚至以蒙古來的西皮，充當滿洲的東皮販售。

From a long time ago, Mongolia and Manchuria were the major producers of luxurious furs, which included the Ming Dynasty period. Many luxurious furs in the Ming Dynasty, such as black sable, lynx and sea otter were mainly imported from these two regions. The black sable fur from the northeastern side of Manchuria was especially loved by the people. There were two main channels to import the furs to China. One was through the tributary system and its related trade, the other was through border trading on a non-fixed or fixed term basis. Due to the hostility between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, foreign relations and border trading were unstable and inconsistent. There were no exchanges of foreign relations and border trading between 1502 and 1571 at all, except for some between 1551 and 1552. After 1571, border trading resumed, until the fall of Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, the relationship between Manchuria and the Ming Dynasty was more peaceful. From 1402, the tributary relations and border trading continued to grow and ended only when Nurhachi unified Manchuria in 1620. Therefore, the fur import from Manchuria was more important and the quantity was also bigger. As a whole, the amount of fur import in Ming Dynasty was probably the highest during the period between 1570 and 1620. Subsequently, the number of local people wearing the luxurious furs had also increased. However, after 1620, there was very little fur import from Manchuria due to fur price hikes. The merchants even used the western fur from Mongolia to sell as if it were the eastern fur from Manchuria.