A curious addendum to the postings by Henry C.K. Liu is to note the influence of Confucianism in Europe. The height of this came during the 1700s and was a part of the general "Enlightenment" period. A particularly influential translator and spreader of Confucian ideas was the physiocratic economist, Francois Quesnay, author of the _Tableau Economique_ (sometimes viewed as an early input-output model as well as an influence on Marxian surplus value theory, among other things), and physician to Madame de Pompadour, paramour of Louis XV. Quesnay was sometimes referred to as "the Confucius of the West."
Some of the ideas that were influential were the emphasis on secularism that was popular among Enlightenment types, and the idea of the Mandate of Heaven which fit in with Voltaire's concept of the Enlightened Monarch. Barkley Rosser
-- Rosser Jr, John Barkley rosserjb at jmu.edu