This study investigates the Jiahe accompanying marriage songs of the Han ethnic minority in southern China, focusing on their ritual, performance, and gendered dimensions. These songs, traditionally performed by women during marriage rituals, function as both expressions of sorrow and blessings for the bride. Previous Chinese research has largely emphasized preservation and documentation, while international ethnomusicology has highlighted music as a social and performative practice. However, little work has critically examined Jiahe marriage songs through a gendered ethnomusicological lens. Drawing on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork, this study employed participant observation, interviews with singers and community members, and musical analysis of recorded performances. The analysis demonstrates that Jiahe marriage songs are not merely ritual laments but complex performative acts that negotiate women's identities and agency within a patriarchal society. The songs create a limi.....

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