Abstract: With regard to the practical projects with different distribution patterns of strip surcharge on the back of the retaining wall, the cohesive backfill and adhesive force between the soil and the retaining wall, based on the theoretical hypothesis of Coulomb's earth pressure and the static equilibrium of the force when the slide wedge is in limited equilibrium, a formula for the active earth pressure that is suitable for a variety of conditions is deduced. The critical rupture angle of the explicit solutions and the boundary conditions of application scope of each theoretical calculation are also given. This formula can be applied to multistage strip surcharge. For single segment strip surcharge, it can be solved by the same method with the corresponding simplifications. Restricted by the boundary conditions, this formula has a certain domain without solution. The results of example analysis show that under different distribution patterns of strip surcharge, the calculated values by the proposed formula are exactly consistent with those of the relevant literatures. As the influence of the strip surcharge on the critical rupture angle of sliding wedge is not taken into account, the active earth pressure calculated by the approach in the Chinese specifications is small.