In my Chinese class, my teacher had each of us write a short essay on a significant figure in Chinese culture and I selected the writer, Qian Zhongshu. I'd usually explain more about him here, but that's what this essay is for anyway. It wasn't supposed to be a long report (mine is only about 800 words, yet still the longest), so don't expect detailed biography. I'm not necessary asking for feedback on the paper, but rather I just wanted to share it and figured it might create an interesting talking point.
I'm glad you did. I would have liked to researched him more in depth and written about him in more detail about his life and what was going on around him to help place things in context. I also wanted to describe him works and their meaning, but we only were given a few days and the assignment only called for 300 words. EDIT: @Vulcan200x It was only meant to be a study of the culture. It's only a first year class.
You're failing to grasp the importance of his literary and academic career. Why not try reading past the second paragraph.