Black soils in Northeast China, reclaimed in recent 60~200 years, is one of the most productive soils in the world, and plays a vital role in guaranteeing national food security. Based on the summarized general situation of black soils in Northeast China including definition, distribution, soil types and reclamation span, this review presents a research footprint for black soils in the recent 70 years and raises future research orientations. Black soils including mollisol, chernozem, meadow soil, albic soil, dark brown soil, and brown soil are dominantly distributed in Liaohe plain, Songnen plain, and Sanjiang plain. The soil fertility under virgin land is relatively high but underwent great changed under the combined role of ecological system change and human activity. Also, the soil organic matter (SOM) sharply decreased during the early period (0-30 a) of black soils reclamation, then the decrease rate of SOM tended to reach stability after 50 years of reclamation. Black soil layer loss observed in eroded regions resulted from water erosion and wind erosion. The organic amendment, rotation, and contouring cropping were extensively adopted to enhance soil fertility and control soil erosion. The black soil layer is the landmark layer in black soils and is the core of soil fertility. Given black soil layer protection, the following suggestions can play a key role in the protection and utilization of black soil:(1) reveal the change processes of thickness and color in black soil layer and the driving mechanism and explore approaches that maintain and increase black soil layer thickness in current agronomic practices; (2) integrate building patterns of protection and utilization of black soil according to the local conditions. Consider conditions such as the core of fertile cultivated layer, barriers layer subduction and conservation of water and soil based on the dominant factor limiting black soils' productivity, and deeply mining the adaptation, effect and mechanism of the patterns; (3) establish monitoring sites on the long slopes in the slope cropland and focus on new technologies research related to controlling soil erosion.