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I apologize that a quick search of stuff in my office has not turned up the 
appropriate references. But, I know that I have read that Quesnay was often 
called by his contemporaries "the Confucius of France," or something like 
that. He was indeed a great admirer of Confucius and argued for the virtues 
of his ideas among his contemporaries. In this he followed Leibniz who I 
believe was the first in Europe to do so in a major way. Admiring Confucius 
was very fashionable during the 1700s Enlightenment, with its mixture of 
rational secularism and admiration for royal authority. Quesnay was one of 
his most fervent admirers. 
 
I suspect that this is a research topic that could stand some further 
mining, although there is material out there. I would suggest starting with 
bios of Quesnay to get at the details of his admiration of Confucius and 
his public identification with Confucian ideas. 
 
Barkley Rosser 
 
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