In 1524, more than two hundred officials knelt and wept at the Zuoshun Gate of the palace in Beijing. They opposed the Jiajing Emperor’s plan to give his birth parents imperial titles. The emperor had 134 officials of the fifth rank and below arrested and flogged at court (廷杖). Sources differ on the number who died of the beating. Some give sixteen, others seventeen.
Officials of the fourth rank and above were not flogged. Their salaries were stopped.