The first ancestors of the Manchu were the Sushen, a people who lived during the second and first millennia BC. They were followed by the Yilou people, who were active from AD 202 to 220. The Wuji ...

SANJIAZI, China — Seated cross-legged in her farmhouse on the kang, a brick sleeping platform warmed by a fire below, Meng Shujing lifted her chin and sang a lullaby in Manchu, softly but clearly.

Liu Guizhi (first from left), a third-generation inheritor of Benxi Manchu paper-cutting, demonstrates the traditional craft to international paper-cutting enthusiasts. Benxi Manchu paper-cutting – ...