The American citizen can then be anti-statist with a self-confidence that to the French, let alone the Confucianist Asians, is simply incredible.

ECONOMIST: In love with regulation

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's senior minister, is accepted even in China as a great Confucianist: he spoke at a big conference in China in 1994 to celebrate the 2, 545th anniversary of the great man's birth.

ECONOMIST: The sage, 2,549 years on