The Enlightenment in an international context European enlightenment thinkers inspired in part by China for some, such as Voltaire (France, 1694-1778), the importance and power of the Confucian scholar bureaucrats was a model to follow others, such as the Baron de Montesquieu (France, 1689-1785) argued that the despotic power of the Chinese emperor made China weak Indian's example of the elevated position of the educated Brahman caste also considered inspiring by some, including Voltaire - http://faculty.tnstate.edu/tcorse/h1220revised/enlightenment.htm