In the early Jiajing 嘉靖 period (1521-1566) of the Ming dynasty, the Grand Secretariat was dominated by Emperor Zhengde's 正德 (r. 1506-1521) court lecturers, and Yang Tinghe 楊廷和 (1459-1529) was the Chief Grand Secretary. The Grand Secretariat controlled the central government bureaucracy and dominated the tenor of scholar-officials' politics. As a result, the Zhengde Baofang 豹房 political group and a few scholar-officials associated with it were expelled from the court. The central government officials rebuffed Emperor Jiajing in the so-called Great Rites Controversy (Daliyi 大禮議). Yang Yiqing 楊一清 (1454-1530) made political gains in the Zhengde period through maintaining close relations with the Baofang group. Because of this, Yang Tinghe, the new Grand Secretary, refused to recall him to court. But Yang Yiqing was reinstated by Jiajing because Yang supported the emperor in the Great Rites Controversy. After Yang Yiqing became the Chief Grand Secretary, he tried to mollify the contradictions of both sides fomented in the Great Rite Controversy and objected to banishing the loser. But his stand ran counter to the emperor's attempt to bolster imperial authority. After Yang's dismissal, the court was split into two political groups, and factional conflicts among the groups surfaced.