Abstract: The clause of performance-based seismic design of structures was added to,Code for Seismic Design of Buildings,which proposed specific indexes of four performance levels and reference procedures to achieve the objectives of performance-based seismic design.In order to verify the rationality of the method,a reinforced concrete frame structure was taken for example,the bearing capacity of the frame beam and column elements as well as the storey drift of the structure were calculated.The results show that if the bearing capacity requirements of different performance levels were satisfied for the rare earthquake action,the section sizes and reinforcing bars quantity of the frame beam and column elements would be increased sharply.Similarly,in order to meet the storey drift demands of different performance levels for the rare earthquake action,the cross-sectional dimensions of the frame components would be increased greatly,which can not conform to the economic and rational design principles.The storey drift reference indexes proposed by the code,on the performance of 3,were low for the rare earthquake action;and on the performance of 4,were low for the fortification intensity earthquake action.