Abstract: A testament does not only mark the end of a life but also makes an essential element of life writing. A special genre as it is, the testament exists on its own. In terms of contents, it falls into four categories: political, family, property and martyr testaments. Its styles and stresses vary with writers. Representatives of the period of China’s modern and contemporary time are testaments by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Wang Guowei, Lu Xun, Hu Shi and Yu Dafu. This paper introduces testaments by politicians and men of letters via analyzing the testaments of the five representatives. 

Key words: the testament; Sun Yat-sen; Wang Guowei; Lu Xun; Hu Shi and Yu Dafu

Sang Fengkang is Researcher in Institute of Literature at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a member of Chinese Writers Association. Having worked for a long time in the field of literature studies, he also writes biographies and novels. He has published almost 20 works, about 4 million Chinese words in total. There are Anecdotes of Hu Shi, Hu Shi in Peking University, Hu Shi’s Interpersonal Relations, Guo Moruo’s Personality, Mao Dun, the Great Master, the collection Comments on Modern Masters of Letters, literary biographies The Rong Family, Life of Yu Dafu, Guo Moruo and His Three Wives, a scientific biography Wu Mengchao, the First-Prize Winner for Science and Technology of the National Award, etc, to name just a few.