Manchu Folk Art & Literature

Manchu folk art is a tradition carried on by Manchu people still to this day. The octagonal drum and ulabun are highly touted within traditional Manchu folk art. The octagonal drum was very popular amongst bannerman; it originated from the snare drum used by the Eight-banner military. The drum consists of wood with bells wrapped around it and tassels of different colors on the bottom of it. The tassels colors represent those of the Eight-Banner military: yellow, red, white, and blue. When being using in performance, the octagonal drum is shaken to ring the bells as well as tapped for the drum sound.

Song Xidong (Aksan)

Ulabun is traditional storytelling used for entertainment within the Manchu culture. This folk art is performed in Manchu language and is mostly popular amongst the Manchu remaining in Manchuria. Two main subjects of ulabun are informative folk music and folk literature. Song Xidong is a famous ulaban artist within the Manchu community. He is also known as Aksan by the Manchu people.

The most important piece of literature to the Manchu culture is the Tale of Nisan Shaman. This piece of literature spreads across other Tungusic cultures other than the Manchu too. This story is a Manchu folk tale about how a woman Shaman resurrected the son of a rich landowner. This tale is mostly told by mouth, you wont find many manuscripts of this story. Tale of Nisan Shaman has been since translated into Russian, Chinese, and English.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchu_people#Literature 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_the_Nisan_Shaman

Pictures:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Ak%C5%A1an.jpg