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