Page "Jiajing Emperor" Paragraph 4

Custom dictated that an emperor who was not an immediate descendant of the previous one should be adopted by the previous one, to maintain an unbroken line.

Such a posthumous adoption of Zhu Houcong by Emperor Zhengde was proposed, but he resisted, preferring instead to have his father declared emperor posthumously.

This conflict is known as " The Great Rites Controversy.

" The Jiajing Emperor prevailed, and hundreds of his opponents were banished, physically beaten in the court ( 廷杖 ) or executed.

Among the banished was the great Ming poet Yang Shen.