During the Xia and Shang dynasties, the region was inhabited by indigenous people vaguely known to the Chinese as the "Eastern Barbarians" ("Dongyi"). Under the Zhou, they were colonized and sinicized as the state of Lai. Lai was annexed by Qi in Under the First Emperor ("Shi Huangdi"), the area was administered as the Qi Commandery. Under the Han, this was renamed as the Donglai Commandery (). Following the Three Kingdoms Period, the area was organized by the Jin as the Donglai Kingdom or Principality, later returning to prefecture status as a "jùn" and then "zhōu". Under the Tang and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, it was known as Deng Prefecture and organized with the Henan Circuit. It was then organized as the Laizhou () and then, under the Qing, Dengzhou Prefecture ().