Abstract: As the fast developing of civilization and industrialization in China as well as the rising of living standards in the world, more land is needed. Consequently, many soil deposits previously claimed to be unfit for residential housing and other construction projects are now being used. In this situation, the engineering properties of special soils are of importance, which has been noticed by civil engineers. Thusly, the most important engineer¬ing properties of several typical special soils in Shanxi province of China, such as: collapsible loess, liquefaction soil, and salty soil are summarized. And also corresponding soil improvement methods and main construction points are proposed. To aim at the fact that Shanxi province is the base of coal mining for China, the stability of foundations above mine goaf, investigation of mine goaf and its treatment technique are discussed as well.