Robert Lawrence Kuhn

Robert Lawrence Kuhn
Kuhn on the set of Closer to Truth
Born	(1944-11-06) November 6, 1944 (age 79) New York
Nationality	American
Education	Johns Hopkins University (BA.) University of California at Los Angeles (Ph.D.) MIT Sloan School of Management (M.S.)
Occupation	writer
Notable work	The Man Who Changed China
Spouse	Dora Serviarian Kuhn
Awards	China Reform Friendship Medal
Website	rlkuhn.com

Robert Lawrence Kuhn^[1] (born November 6, 1944) is a public intellectual, corporate strategist, and investment banker. He is also an author, editor, a TV-producer, a columnist and commentator, especially on topics related to China. Kuhn is a recipient of the China Reform Friendship Medal and a long-time adviser to the Chinese government. He has been called "one of the Western world’s most prolific interpreters of Beijing’s policies".^[2] Some of his work have been criticized as pro-China propaganda.^[3][4]

Education

Kuhn received a bachelor's degree in human biology from Johns Hopkins University (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1964, a PhD in anatomy and brain research from the University of California, Los Angeles' Brain Research Institute in 1968 and a Master of Science in management as a Sloan fellow from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1980.^[5]

Career

In 1989, Kuhn was invited to China by its director of the State Science and Technology Commission, Song Jian, whom Kuhn considers his mentor.^[6]

From 1991 to 2001, Kuhn was president and co-owner of the Geneva Companies, a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) firm representing privately owned, middle-market companies. In 2000 Kuhn sold the Geneva Companies to Citigroup.^[7]

Closer to Truth is a continuing television series on PBS and public television stations, created, executive-produced, written and hosted by Kuhn, and produced and directed by Peter Getzels.^[8] The series premiered in 2000 and is in its 19th season (Closer to Truth: Cosmos. Consciousness. Meaning/God). It offers conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, theologians and scholars on topics such as cosmology, physics, philosophy of science, consciousness (brain/mind), and philosophy of religion. Kuhn's presentation, "Asking Ultimate Questions", serves as the foundation of Closer To Truth.^[9]

Kuhn provided live commentary on CNN during Xi Jinping's policy address in Seattle on September 2, 2015, during a state visit to the US.^[10] He had spoken at the launch ceremony of Xi's book, entitled Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 8, 2014.^[11]

In 2017, during the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Kuhn was interviewed extensively, including multiple times on CNN, BBC World News and BBC World Service, CGTN, and China Central Television (CCTV).^[12][13] In 2018 Xi Jinping awarded Kuhn the China Reform Friendship Medal for his contributions to Chinese economic reform over the past four decades.^[14]

Works about China

Kuhn wrote The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin.^[15] It was the first biography of a living Chinese leader and was a best-seller in China in 2005.^[4][3]

Kuhn is the author of the 2011 book How China's Leaders Think: The Inside Story of China's Past, Current and Future Leaders.^[6] He has also written about Xi Jinping as the latest core leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government response to COVID-19.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Kuhn has created or hosted TV and web series such as China's Challenges (with Peter Getzels as director), Closer To China with R.L. Kuhn (with Adam Zhu as co-producer), and The Watcher.^[20][21]

After Jiang Zemin died on November 30, 2022, Kuhn published his personal reflections, concluding that "history will be kind to Jiang Zemin."^[22]

Responses

In Forbes, Gordon G. Chang wrote that How China’s Leaders Think: the Inside Story of China’s Reform and What This Means for the Future was difficult to even read to completion, saying, "Kuhn stated--on the fifth page of the introduction--that Chinese leaders are not authoritarians. That’s demonstrably untrue, but I struggled on for another hundred pages before finally realizing there was no point in reading a work of propaganda." Chang also wrote, "Kuhn merely repeats what the Communist Party says about itself and accepts its words at face value, taking obsequiousness to new heights."^[23]

In a book review essay published in Foreign Affairs, Bruce Gilley said Kuhn's The Man Who Changed China was actually better understood as an officially sanctioned autobiography, presenting an image that China's leaders want the world to see. Additionally, he said the writing of the book was, beginning in 2001, overseen by a secret state propaganda team.^[4] John Walsh, an assistant Professor at Shinawatra University, presumed that as a result of interviewing people who had favorable views of Jiang Zemin, he said that the first part of this book was "close to hagiography".^[24] Gilley stated that the official government of China had censored as much as 10 percent of the content from the book in the Chinese language version, whereas the English language version was also modified to suit what the Chinese government deemed appropriate for Chinese and non-Chinese audiences to see. Gilley is quoted as saying,^[4]

Beginning in 2001, a secret state propaganda team oversaw the writing of the book. Ten percent of the English version was censored for the Chinese edition, but 90 percent remained the same: the book's main intended market was China itself (where it appeared simultaneously in Chinese and quickly sold a million copies). This is the image that Jiang and China's new leaders want their people to see. How then do they style themselves, and what does this mean for China's future?

Kuhn responded in 2006 in Foreign Affairs, saying,^[25]

My intention (as stated in the book itself, on pages 691-92) was to move beyond all the hype and bias about China so as to understand how Chinese leaders think.... Jiang didn't choose me; I chose Jiang. The book was my idea; I planned it, financed it, and wrote it to trace China's story through eight tumultuous decades of trauma and transformation. I had help -- translators, researchers, editors -- but I maintained absolute editorial control and made every editorial decision, and no one in China ever thought otherwise….

My rendition of events, such as the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999, differs markedly from that of the official Chinese media. In a publisher's note, Chinese readers are advised: "Certain viewpoints and opinions of the author, as a Westerner, bear a definite distance from those of our own. Hopefully the reader will understand."

My book is unprecedented -- the first biography of a living leader published on the mainland. Furthermore, there is inside information in it that Chinese media and officials aver that they never knew. One reporter complained publicly about the fact that this breakthrough was made by a foreigner.^[25]

According to The Wire China, in the 17 years since his book's publication, "Kuhn has regularly deflected accusations that he is a propagandist for the Chinese government." He has carved out a niche as "one of the Western world’s most prolific interpreters of Beijing’s policies," "currying favor with China’s leadership and gaining remarkable access."^[2] Kuhn says that he has spent the past few decades 'helping the world understand China and China understand the world' — efforts he hopes are in the best interest of the U.S. and China.”^[2]

References