DOM (Dissolved Organic Matter) is the most reactive pool of organic matter in ecosystems. Among others, it is the energy source of most microbial metabolism. It also plays a key role in the biogeochemistry of C/N/P due to its high mobility. In forest ecosystems, the amount of DOM that is respired, accumulated in soils or leached from the ecosystems are highly dependent on its chemical nature, which may differ between types and species of litter. Castanopsis carlesii forest (CCF) and Cunninghamia lanceolata plantation (CLP) are of dominant forest type and distributed widely in Fujian province, mid-subtropical China. While previous work focused on the biomass and carbon storage of the two kinds of stands, information on DOM from fresh leaves and litterfall from the two kinds of stands is rare. In this study, laboratory leaching experiments were carried out for leachates from fresh leaves and litterfall in L and F layers, which are from a 36-year-old Castanopsis carlesii forest (CCF) by artificially promoted regeneration and a 37-year-old Cunninghamia lanceolata plantation (CLP) in Sanming, Fujian province. We examined the quantities and spectral characteristics of DOM in terms of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC), Dissolved Organic Nitrogen (DON) and Dissolvd Oganic Phosphorus (DOP) content, Special Ultraviolet-Visible Absorption (SUVA), Humication Index (HIX) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The results showed that during leaching, the DOC, DON and DOP content in different samples either reached their maximum first followed by a decreasement, or showed an increasing valley and peak cycle; this is because that the release and desorption of DOM both controled the content of DOM. The amount of total DOC from CCF is comparable to that from CLP, but the amounts of DON and DOP are much higher than those from CLF. In the two stands, SUVA value of the DOM from F layer were significantly higher than those of fresh leaf and L layer (P < 0.05), suggesting that F layer litter contains more aromatic substances. In the order of fresh leaf, litter in L layer and F layer, the HIX increased gradually and the maximum fluorescence intensity shifted from shorter to longer wavelengths, which can be explained by a higher humification degree and the presence of larger conjugated systems; also, DOM from CCF has higher HIX than that from CLP. Each of the six kinds of samples showed five IR absorption bands in common, i.e., 3758-3058 cm^-1, 1630-1600 cm^-1, 1420-1400 cm^-1, 1080-1020 cm^-1, 690-610 cm^-1, whose relative intensities differed between samples, with the strongest absorption in all cases arising from stretching vibration of H-bonding hydroxyl groups. DOM from CCF is more carboxylic acid abundant than DOM from CLP. The infrared absorption differences between three kinds of samples in the same stand supported that the aromatic substance content gradually increased and conjugated systems growed larger from the fresh leaves to L layer litter to F layer litter. Overall, DOM from CCF is nutrient richer and bears more complex structures, thus favoring organic matter accumulation, when compared with DOM from CLP.