In order to promote the application of Q500GJ high strength steel in steel structure engineering, five specimens of Q500GJ high-strength steel columns with welded H-section were tested under horizontal reciprocating loading, the effects of slenderness ratio and loading conditions around the strong or weak axis on the failure mode, the deformation capacity and the seismic energy dissipation capacity of specimens were studied. The results show that the load-displacement hysteretic curves of all specimens are rich and the hysteretic performance is good. The skeleton curves are basically symmetrical in both the right direction and the reverse direction with similar trends to each other. From elastic deformation to yield point, after reaching the maximum load, the skeleton curves begin to decline until the plastic failure. The specimens under cyclic loading around strong axis are failed due to the plate local elastic-plastic instability, and the plasticity is developed insufficiently. While the specimens under cyclic loading around weak axis are failed due to the whole section plasticity. The ductility coefficient of specimens under cyclic loading around weak axis is much higher than that under cyclic loading around strong axis. The maximum and minimum inter-story displacement angles of the specimens are 1/20 and 1/26, respectively, which meet the limit requirements of 1/50 of elastic-plastic displacement angles for multi-story and high-rise steel structures in GB50011-2010, Code for Seismic Design of Buildings.