The Yitong Manchu Folk Customs Museum was built on June 25, 1987, on a 2,532-square-kilometer piece of land and is the only Chinese museum to display Manchu relics and folk customs. It holds more than 3,000 antiques and has received more than 1,500 groups and 200,000 visitors from all over, including the US, Russia, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao, all of whom found great interest in the museum. It has now become a patriotic education base of the Siping municipal government, in March 1995, and an academic site of the Social Sciences Academy of Jilin province in May 1999.

The Yitong Manchu autonomous county itself has a long history and was the home of the Manchu ethnic group, with Jurchens (Tungusic people of Manchuria) of the Song, Liao, Yuan and Ming dynasties all living here. The mother of the Emperor Huang Taiji (1592-1643) was born in Yitong and it has retained its Manchu customs. Some local historical items were given a show in Beijing in March 1987 and were popular with people from all over. It was made an autonomous county by the State Council on Aug 30, 1988.