The link between Quesnay and Confucius goes more deeply than the  
simple expression "Confucius of Europe".  
As is well known, Quesnay wrote a text called /Despotisme de la  
Chine/. What is less known is that in the manuscript version of this  
text, there is a chapter called "Vie sommaire de Confucius" (A  
summary of the life of Confucius) in which the story of Confucius's  
life looks very much like an idealized projection of Quesnay's own  
life. Moreover, this "Vie sommaire..." closes with several maxims  
attributed to Confucius. This chapter which was absent from the  
version printed in the /Eph=E9m=E9rides du citoyen/, has been recently  
published and for the first time in the 2005 INED edition of  
Quesnay's writings:=A0 /Oeuvres =E9conomiques compl=E8tes et autres  
textes/, Paris: INED, 2005, 2 vols. (the relevant passage is in vol.  
2, p. 1062-1070.  
  
   For those who do not read french language, Elisabeth Fox-Genovese  
has provided an apt description of this chapter in her /Origins of  
Physiocracy/, p. 74-76.  
  
   Finally, it is true that Turgot had extended contact with two young  
chinese who stayed in France for a few years. It is indeed for them  
that he initially wrote the /Reflections on the formations and  
distribution of wealth/ (I believe that Peter Groenewegen gives the  
details of this story in his collection of translations of Turgot's  
economic writings).  
  
   Yours,  
  
   Loic Charles