To investigate spectral characteristics of different soil compositions, eight soil profiles from two paddy soil chronosequences developed on red clays and red sandstones respectively were collected in Jiangxi Province. A total of 37 soil samples were taken from each soil horizons of the profiles. The paddy soil chronosequences were chosen mainly because all soil profiles have the same land management and thus parent materials and rice cultivation time would be two major soil formative factors. This makes it possible to study spectral response characteristics of soil organic matter (SOM) and parent material characteristics. We measured diffuse reflectance spectra data of soil samples using the Cary 5000 spectrophotometer at 350～2 500 nm spectral range. Spectral response characteristics of SOM and inorganic minerals in paddy soils were analyzed according to different soil horizons, soil forming times and parent materials. Experiment results showed that for soil samples from a single parent material, overall reflectance presented by PC_1 score can be calibrated for soil organic matter (SOM) content with high precision(R2RC=0.91, R2RS=0.79), even though the SOM content was low (not more than 20 g·kg-1). The absorption strength (AS) at 1 400, 1 900 and 2 200 nm was mainly affected by the minerals inherited from parent materials. And the more the sample was near to bottom of a soil profile, the higher the AS value. Samples with the same mineral components had the similar AS ratio among these three wavelength locations. The differences in parent materials can significantly affect spectral curve shape and spectral absorption strength. To make the calibration more interpretative, parent material factors should be considered.