Abstract: The plastic hinge zone of traditional steel plate reinforced concrete (SPC) shear walls is relatively weak and the connection nodes of wall-beam are complicated. A new type of partially encased SPC shear wall was proposed, which can be constructed efficiently. Cyclic loading tests were carried out on seven pieces of specimens to study the failure mode and seismic behavior of the specimens. The results showed that the partially encased SPC shear wall has good maximum bearing capacity and deformation performance, and the failure mode of the specimens is related to the shear-to-span ratio and the thickness of the built-in steel plate. Based on the test results, finite element models were established and the effects of different parameters (shear-to-span ratio, thickness of built-in steel plate, thickness of PEC hidden column-section steel flanges and concrete strength) on the bearing capacity of shear wall were analyzed in order to give engineering suggestions to improve the bearing capacity. Finally, the formulae to calculate the bearing capacity of the normal section and inclined section of the shear wall were proposed, which are expected to provide reference for engineering applications.