【Objective】Determining the patterns of regulatory factors of soil extracellular enzyme activity along elevational gradients is critical for understanding microbial nutrient limitation and metabolic processes. This contributes to predicting the responses of soil biogeochemical cycles to global change. However, knowledge of the elevational patterns in soil extracellular enzyme activity and their stoichiometry, as well as their drivers, remains limited. 【Method】Soil samples (0-10 cm) were collected from different elevation gradients on Jinzhongshan Mountain in Guangxi, China. These samples were used to investigate the elevational patterns of soil physical and chemical properties, extracellular enzyme activities, and microbial nutrient limitations. Also, the major factors influencing microbial extracellular enzyme activities and their stoichiometry were evaluated. 【Result】 The results indicate that (1) soil water content (SWC), soil nutrient content, stoichiometric ratios, and microbial biomass content increased with increasing elevation. However, soil bulk density (BD), pH, and available phosphorus (AP) content decreased with increasing elevation. (2) The activities of carbon and nitrogen degradation-related enzymes, including β-glucosidase (BG), N-acetylamino glucosidase (NAG), and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), exhibited no clear pattern with increasing elevational gradient. In contrast, acid phosphatase (ACP) activity initially increased, then decreased along with elevation, presenting a unimodal pattern. Vector analysis of ecoenzyme activities revealed that vector lengths were larger at middle and high elevations (1 429-1 691 m), suggesting an enhanced carbon limitation for soil microorganisms. Additionally, all vector angles were greater than 45°, indicating a widespread phosphorus limitation for soil microbes in the study region. (3) Compared with soil enzyme activity data at the global scale and in Chinese regions, soil enzyme activities related to carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling in Jinzhongshan, which is located in the transition zone from the eastern humid region to the western semi-humid and semi-arid region, were generally low. This suggested that soil microorganisms in this area were subject to relatively greater N and P limitations. Furthermore, compared to soils in humid regions, the activities of C-, N-, and P-cycling enzymes were lower, whereas the activities of enzymes associated with C and P cycling were relatively higher when compared with arid regions. (4) Mantel test results indicated that soil extracellular enzyme activity and their stoichiometry were significantly correlated with SWC, NO3--N, and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN). Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that NO3--N and microbial biomass phosphorus (MBP) were the key factors driving variations in soil extracellular enzyme activities, whereas soil enzyme stoichiometry was primarily regulated by NO3--N, total phosphorus (TP), C:N, and MBP. (5) Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) demonstrated that soil physical properties and microbial biomass directly influenced soil extracellular enzyme activities, whereas soil physicochemical properties together with microbial biomass exerted direct effects on enzyme stoichiometry.【Conclusion】Elevation affected extracellular enzyme activities mainly through regulating soil physical properties and microbial biomass, but indirectly modulated enzyme stoichiometry via altering soil physicochemical properties and microbial biomass. These findings contribute to enhancing the mechanistic understanding of how soil extracellular enzyme activities and their stoichiometric patterns respond to elevation gradients in mountain forest ecosystems under global climate change.