bai yufang is a writer who lives in shanghai. almost every week she, along with fellow manchus and other friends, put on traditional dresses and practice traditional dancing. >> translator: i truly enjoy dancing. the traditional dress lifts my spirit. >> reporter: until recently many manchu people tried to hide their ethnicity, fearing they'd be persecuted by china's largest ethnic group, the han chinese, but bai says attitudes are changing. >> translator: i think the society is becoming tolerant of ethnic minorities' cultures. china has pursued material wealth but now the people want spiritual richness. >> reporter: other manchus are rediscovering their culture by visiting historical grounds. 50 manchu men and women from across china joined this tour of jilin province, an area where manchu people founded a country called bohai more than 1,000 years ago. they then head for champai mountain, where the manchu people are believed to have originated from. the group honored their ancestors in a traditional ceremony part of which was p