Abstract: In this paper, reinforced concrete with special-shaped short-pier shear wall and core walls with concealed bracing are proposed and systemically investigated. Twenty-eight 1:2 scale special-shaped (including blade-shaped, T-shaped, L-shaped and Z-shaped) short-pier shear wall specimens,four 1:3 scale L-shaped coupled short-pier shear wall specimens and two 1:6 scale core walls specimens were designed and tested under cyclic loading to assess their seismic performance. The load-carrying capacity, stiffness, ductility, hysteretic behavior and energy dissipation of the shear wall are discussed. On the basis of these tests, mechanical models and seismic design methods for the special-shaped short-pier shear wall and core walls with concealed bracing are suggested. The significant effecton improving the seismic performance of structure is verified when applying the core walls with concealed bracing in one building.