Pangu Plaza, located at Beijing close to 2008 Olympic main stadium, is a 191 meter, 39-story steel high rise building. It was analyzed under earthquake and wind loads with both Fluid Viscous Dampers (FVD) and Buckling Restrained Braces (BRB or UBB) as the seismic protection system. The complete seismic response on the horizontal and vertical directions showed that the Fluid Viscous Dampers are highly effective to reduce the structural response, as well as the secondary system response. A comparative analysis of structural seismic performance and economic effect was considered, by the traditional method of increasing steel columns and beams size; by using BRB’s and by using FVD’s to absorb the seismic energy. Structural response analysis showed that using FVD’s to absorb the seismic energy made the structure satisfy the Chinese seismic design code for the "rare" earthquake and also greatly improved the seismic performance. Economic analysis showed that FVD’s were the most economic approach for both one-time direct investment and long term maintenance.