The Great Rites Controversy Begins

In November 1523, during the second year of the Jiajing Emperor’s reign, a political storm was brewing in the Ming court. Zhang Cong, a minor official with grand ambitions, launched an attack against what seemed like an impregnable opponent – the powerful Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe and the entire bureaucratic establishment.

The conflict centered around what became known as the Great Rites Controversy. At its core was a seemingly simple question: who should the Jiajing Emperor honor as his father? The young emperor, originally a cousin of the previous Zhengde Emperor, had been adopted into the imperial line. The bureaucrats insisted he honor the late Hongzhi Emperor as his father, while Jiajing wanted to honor his biological father, the Prince of Xingxian.

Gui E, an ally of Zhang Cong, fired the first shot by submitting a memorial arguing that the current ceremonial titles were inappropriate and needed revision. When the 17-year-old emperor summoned Yang Tinghe for his opinion, expecting another confrontation with the veteran statesman, he received a surprising response. The 64-year-old Yang, weary after four decades of political battles across four reigns, simply requested retirement.

The Rise of Yang Shen

Yang Tinghe’s sudden departure left many puzzled, including his own son Yang Shen. Unlike his father who rose through political maneuvering, Yang Shen was a genuine intellectual prodigy who had earned the prestigious title of zhuangyuan (top graduate) in the imperial examinations of 1511. His reputation as “the man who has read all books” made his academic achievements unquestionable, though rumors persisted that his success owed something to his father’s connections.

When Yang Shen asked his father why he was retiring, the elder Yang cryptically replied that his son would understand in time. But the hot-headed Yang Shen interpreted his father’s departure as a forced exile engineered by Zhang Cong and saw it as a personal insult that demanded vengeance.

The Bureaucratic Counterattack

In February 1524, the imperial bureaucracy launched its counteroffensive. Led by Minister of Rites Wang Jun, seventy-three officials submitted a joint memorial opposing Zhang Cong’s proposals. Their message was clear: eighty more memorials with 250 signatories stood ready if the emperor didn’t comply.

But the young emperor, hardened by his battles with Yang Tinghe, refused to back down. Instead of capitulating, he summoned Zhang Cong and Gui E to the capital for a direct debate. Facing certain defeat in open argument, Wang Jun and his allies quickly changed tactics, offering a compromise by agreeing to add “imperial” to the titles of Jiajing’s biological parents.

The Left Gate Plot

As Zhang Cong and Gui E traveled to Beijing, Yang Shen devised a shocking plan – to publicly beat Zhang Cong to death at the Left Gate of the palace. This location held special significance; seventy years earlier during the Zhengtong reign, three corrupt officials had been beaten to death there by angry ministers without legal consequences.

Yang Shen’s plot failed when Zhang Cong, warned of the danger, entered the palace discreetly. Gui E, unaware of the threat, narrowly escaped a mob of officials through quick footwork. The two reformers found protection with Guo Xun, a military commander from an illustrious family whose ancestors had survived the purges of the Hongwu era.

The Final Protest

On a day in July 1524, the conflict reached its climax. After another frustrating court session where officials’ protests were ignored, He Mengchun, Vice Minister of Personnel, rallied his colleagues by recalling how officials had successfully pressured the Chenghua Emperor decades earlier through collective protest.

Yang Shen then delivered his famous rallying cry: “The state has nurtured scholars for 150 years. The time to uphold righteousness with our lives is today!” Leading 220 officials including five of six ministry heads, Yang marched to the Left Gate of the palace where they staged a massive protest.

The demonstration escalated as officials knelt, wailed, and beat the palace gates. When initial attempts to disperse them failed, the emperor ordered the arrest of eight ringleaders. Rather than dispersing, the remaining protesters, led by Yang Shen and Wang Yuanzheng, intensified their demonstration with dramatic “door-shaking wails” that continued from morning until noon.

The Emperor’s Retribution

Finally, Jiajing had enough. He ordered the arrest of all participants, sending in the Imperial Guards to record names before taking them into custody. In a remarkable display of bureaucratic defiance, the officials not only willingly provided their names but added those of absent colleagues, expanding the list from 140 to 190 names.

This mass arrest marked the end of the Left Gate protest but not its consequences. The Jiajing Emperor, having asserted his authority through this violent confrontation, would go on to dominate his officials for decades to come. The Great Rites Controversy fundamentally reshaped Ming politics, demonstrating both the limits of bureaucratic power and the determination of a young emperor to honor his familial roots.