Abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the changes of the content and the antioxidant ability of polypeptide during different processing period using Xuanwei ham as raw material. Glutathione (GSH) with the same concentration as polypeptide was used as the control to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the polypeptide through measuring 1,1-diphenyl-2-trinitrophenol hydrazine (DPPH) radical,hydroxyl radical,superoxide radical scavenging rate and total antioxidant capacity. The results showed the trend that the peptide contents and antioxidant activity increased with the extension of processing time,while the contents of peptides in ham were significantly increased between 0~2 and 6~8 months of processing (p<0.05). However,except the superoxide radical scavenging ability,the antioxidant activity of Xuanwei ham polypeptides was lower than that of GSH (p<0.05). The results showed that the content of Xuanwei ham polypeptide increased with the extension of processing time,while the peptide contents and antioxidant activity of these peptides were significantly increased during the 0~2 months and the 6~8 months of processing.