Embodiments of the invention provide a water-cooled column formed by side walls connected together to define an enclosed space, each side wall is formed of a water-cooled membrane wall, a working medium is passed through a tube of the water-cooled membrane wall from bottom to top, the water-cooled column comprising: a lower part having a cross section reduced segment, which has a cross section gradually reduced in a direction from bottom to top; and an upper part, wherein the upper part connects with the cross section reduced segment at a connection position, and a cross sectional area of the cross section reduced segment at the connection position is identical to a cross sectional area of the upper part at the connection position. Embodiments of the invention also provide a furnace for defining a reaction space, which comprises a water-cooled column defined as above disposed along a vertical direction therein.