Gaffney is spot on   
  
Consider that this was the era of Chinoiserie - everything Chinese was  
admired in elite circles in Europe (not entirely dissimilar from today)  
  
Elites are always prone to admire other elites and to turn a blind eye  
to their shortcomings - in this case, the fact that entire peoples were  
enslaved by the Confucian system then, as by the "Communist-Capitalist"  
system now.  
  
My own country, India, was not much better through history of course,  
but we had the enormous blessing of British reformers such as William  
Carey and Alexander Duff, leading to Indian reformers, such as the  
Dutts, Krishna Mohan Banerjea, Mahatma Phule, and Dr Ambedkar, leading  
to democratic empowerment of our people (the majority of whom consist of  
the "untouchable" and other depressed classes).  The empowerment has not  
yet thoroughly or wholly had effect but is doing so increasingly quickly  
if still too slowly for comfort.  
  
But the elite (including scholars and economists) focus rather on what  
will enhance their reputation with their peers....  
  
Prabhu Guptara