Editing François Quesnay (section)

=== Orientalism and China ===
Quesnay is known for his writings on Chinese politics and society. His book ''Le Despotisme de la Chine'', written in 1767, describes his views of the Chinese imperial system.<ref name="OEMF">{{cite book|author=Ina Baghdiantz McCabe|title=Orientalism in Early Modern France: Eurasian Trade, Exoticism and the Ancien Regime|url=https://archive.org/details/orientalismearly00mcca|url-access=limited|date=15 July 2008|publisher=[[Berg Publishers]]|isbn=978-1-84520-374-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/orientalismearly00mcca/page/n277 271]–72}}<!--|access-date=25 August 2012--></ref> He was supportive of the meritocratic concept of giving scholars political power, without the cumbersome aristocracy that characterized French politics, and the importance of agriculture to the welfare of a nation. Gregory Blue writes that Quesnay "praised China as a constitutional despotism and openly advocated the adoption of Chinese institutions, including a standardized system of taxation and universal education." Blue speculates that this may have influenced the 1793 establishment of the Permanent Settlement in [[Bengal]] by the [[British Empire]].<ref name="CC">{{cite book|author=E. S. Shaffer|title=Comparative Criticism: Volume 22, East and West: Comparative Perspectives|date=30 November 2000|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-79072-7|pages=239–40}}<!--|access-date=25 August 2012--></ref> Quesnay's interests in Orientalism has also been a source of criticism. Carol Blum, in her book ''Strength in Numbers'' on 18th century France, labels Quesnay an "apologist for [[Oriental despotism]]."<ref name="Blum">{{cite book|author=Carol Blum|title=Strength in Numbers: Population, Reproduction, and Power in Eighteenth-Century France|url=https://archive.org/details/strengthnumbersp00blum|url-access=limited|date=5 February 2002|publisher=[[JHU Press]]|isbn=978-0-8018-6810-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/strengthnumbersp00blum/page/n33 16]}}<!--|access-date=25 August 2012--></ref>

Because of his admiration of [[Confucianism]], Quesnay's followers bestowed him with the title "Confucius of Europe."<ref name="Rothbard">{{cite book|author=Murray N. Rothbard|author-link=Murray N. Rothbard|title=Economic Thought Before Adam Smith|year=2006|publisher=[[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]|isbn=978-0-945466-48-2|page=366}}<!--|access-date=26 August 2012--></ref> Quesnay's infatuation for Chinese culture, as described by Jesuits, led him to persuade the son of [[Louis XV]] to mirror the "plowing of sacred land" by the Chinese emperor to symbolize the link between government and agriculture.<ref name="globe">{{cite book|author=Geoffrey C. Gunn|title=First Globalization: The Eurasian Exchange, 1500 to 1800|year=2003|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-0-7425-2662-4|pages=148}}<!--|access-date=26 August 2012--></ref>