Abstract: The rumors appeared in internet after "5·12 Wenchuan earthquake" were analyzed using the method of qualitative research in the next two months, particularly content analysis and grounded theory. In the context of internet, the results revealed not only the similarity content such as the forecast and reasons of earthquake but also the differences between the rumors appeared after "5·12 Wenchuan earthquake" and the rumors appeared before, such as that about donation. Most of the rumors condemned the people who had social predominance with the emotion of astoundment and angry. This procedure makes individual get the feelings of control and regulates negative emotion. Rumors upgraded their acceptance by people in the way of blurring the role of addresser, adding many details and scientific logic into the content, and making use of some social psychological factors such as emotion and moral

Key words: earthquake rumor, qualitative research, content analysis, grounded theor