Abstract: After the coup d'état in the year of Wuxu (1898), the KANG Youwei's Party used their advantage in propaganda and carried out statements conducive to their own stance on the issue of coup to declare the rebellious nature of the coup and the rationality of his flee abroad. The condemnation for the launcher of the coup d'état changed from the “rebellious empress dowager” in the year of Wuxu (1898) to the “treacherous minister” in the year of Jihai (1899), which is the strategic adjustment made by the Party based on the changes in the situation of 1888-1889 period. At the beginning of the coup, the party predicted that the Emperor Guangxu would soon be dethroned and even killed, and accordingly formed his own propaganda strategy of shaping the “rebellious empress dowager” image, the main content of KANG's propaganda; but in the year of Jihai (1899), Emperor Guangxu was not dethroned or killed as the Kang's Party predicted. Meanwhile, the KANG's Party failed to gain support from the foreign powers. Under this circumstance, the KANG's Party was forced to adjust their propaganda strategy: blaming the “treacherous minister” instead of the “rebellious empress dowager”, reconciling the power of two empress dowagers and leading the public opinion for supporting empress dowager to regain power. Thus, the “treacherous minister” Ronglu became the chief culprit to blame for launching the coup. The adjustment of the KANG's Party's propaganda strategy has been echoed by the party of innovation, who then became an important force to prevent the political degradation of the Qing court at that period.

Key words: 1898 coup d'état, rebellious empress dowager, treacherous minister, KANG Youwei's Party, propaganda strategy