Inner Asia is a term referring to particular regions within
Asia. It has a major overlap with some definitions of
Central Asia, mostly the historical ones, but certain regions of Inner Asia (such as
Manchuria) are not considered a part of Central Asia by any of its definitions. One way to think of Inner Asia is as the "frontier" of
China, and as bounded by
East Asia (consisting of China,
Japan, and
Korea). The actual extent of Inner Asia may be different during different periods in history. In 1800 it consisted of four main areas, namely
Manchuria (modern
Northeast China and
Outer Manchuria),
Mongolia (
Inner and
Outer),
Xinjiang and
Tibet. All were part of the
Qing dynasty and were garrisoned by Qing forces, but they were governed through several different types of administrative structure and not as regular provinces during most of the Qing period. The Qing government agency known as the
Lifan Yuan was established to supervise the empire's Inner Asian regions.