Robert Lawrence Kuhn


Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a public intellectual, international corporate strategist and investment banker. He has a doctorate in neuroscience and is the author and editor of over 25 books. He is a recipient of the China Reform Friendship Medal, China's highest award; he is a long-time adviser to China's leaders and the Chinese government, to multinational corporations on China strategies and transactions, and is a frequent commentator on the politics, economics, business, finance, philosophy and science of China. He is a columnist for China Daily and South China Morning Post and appears on the BBC, CNN, China Central Television, Bloomberg and other major media. Kuhn is the creator and host of the CCTV/CGTN News show Closer to China with R.L.Kuhn. Kuhn is the creator, writer and host of the public television series Closer to Truth, which presents scientists and philosophers discussing fundamental issues. His essays are featured on LiveScience.com and Space.com.

Education

Kuhn received a bachelor's degree in human biology from Johns Hopkins University 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.

Career

Early career

Kuhn first came to prominence in 1972 when "Why the Vast Difference between Animal Brain and Human Mind?" appeared in The Plain Truth magazine published by Ambassador College, an institution of the Worldwide Church of God. The WCG's Systematic Theology Project was coordinated by Kuhn, but later banned by WCG Founder Herbert W. Armstrong. Kuhn severed his connection to the WCG and its affiliates, including the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, which Kuhn had created and managed.
During the 1980s, Kuhn represented American and Japanese companies in mergers and acquisitions.

China

Kuhn was awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal by President Xi Jinping and Chinese leaders at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up. The medal, China’s highest award, honors 10 foreigners who facilitated China’s reform and opening up over the four decades. Five of the foreigners are living; Kuhn is one of two Americans. For 30 years, Kuhn, with his long-time partner Adam Zhu, has worked with China’s state leaders and advised the Chinese government.
During the 19th CPC National Congress, Kuhn was interviewed extensively, including multiple times on CNN, BBC World News and BBC World Service, CGTN, and CCTV, and he was quoted extensively. His full-page, in-depth analyses of the 19th CPC National Congress were featured in China Daily to open the Congress and to close the Congress.
Kuhn has written on President Xi Jinping's "core" status in the Communist Party of China and the elimination of term limits for China's presidency.
Kuhn provided the live commentary on CNN during President Xi Jinping's policy address in Seattle on September 2, 2015, during Xi's state visit to the US. Kuhn spoke at the launch ceremony of Xi's book, entitled Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 8, 2014.
Kuhn writes on Xi's Four Comprehensives political theory of governance, and on understanding the Communist Party of China.
In 1989, he was invited to China by the director of the State Science and Technology Commission, Song Jian, whom Kuhn considers his mentor. Since then he has worked with China's senior leaders and advised the Chinese government on international, policy and business matters.
Kuhn is the author of How China's Leaders Think: The Inside Story of China's Past, Current and Future Leaders, featuring exclusive discussions with more than 100 Chinese leaders and featuring President Xi Jinping.
He wrote The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin. It was the first biography of a living Chinese leader and was a best-seller in China in 2005. Kuhn is co-editor-in-chief of China's Banking & Financial Markets: The Internal Research Report of the Chinese Government.
Kuhn advises and works with China leaders on special projects. When then-Vice President Xi visited the US in February 2012, Kuhn advised and gave commentaries and interviews. He advised Zhejiang Province for Zhejiang Party Secretary Xi's 2006 U.S. visit as well.
Kuhn is the host and co-producer of Closer To China with R.L. Kuhn, a weekly series on China Global Television Network ; co-created and co-produced by Adam Zhu, it tells the story of China through discussions with China's thought leaders and decision-makers in all sectors.
Kuhn is creator, writer and host of the five-part public television TV series China's Challenges, co-produced with Shanghai Media Group and Adam Zhu, and directed by Peter Getzels, which won first prize in China News Award and is presented by PBS SoCaL. The series focuses on critical issues confronting China's leaders and government. China's Challenges II, focusing on the Chinese Dream, was broadcast on PBS stations in 2015. China’s Challenges won China News Awards, Emmy, and Telly Awards. and won an Emmy and. China's Challenges III, on “Xi Jinping Thought” and China 2020/2050, will be broadcast in 2019.

Business and finance

Kuhn advises multinational companies and executives on China strategies in a variety of sectors, including science and technology, information technology, energy and resources, industrial, media and entertainment, healthcare and medical and pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and financial services. He works with major Chinese companies on capital markets and mergers and acquisitions.
He was president and co-owner of The Geneva Companies, then the largest mergers and acquisitions firm in the U.S., representing middle-market companies.

Media and publications

Kuhn is the author or editor of 25 books on business strategy-finance and science-philosophy, including Dow-Jones Irwin's seven-volume Library of Investment Banking. He is a frequent commentator on the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, others. Kuhn is a senior international commentator for political, economic, social and business matters on CCTV News. He has written for Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Forbes and Chief Executive. Kuhn is a regular columnist for China Daily and South China Morning Post on China politics/economics and international affairs.
He was profiled in Barron's. He is one of the China Visionaries in the TV series produced for China's 60th anniversary by Shanghai Media Group and he was featured on CCTV Channel 1's Focus Talk. Kuhn created, wrote and presented a six-episode series on Expo 2010 Shanghai, broadcast on CCTV. For the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Kuhn co-produced, wrote and presented a five-episode TV series, China's Challenges, on China's key domestic issues and problems that China's new leaders face. Kuhn was selected by Oriental Outlook magazine as one of the all-time top-ten influential supporters of China's ruling party/CPC.
Kuhn has written many articles. "Science as Democratizer", featured in American Scientist magazine, argued how the scientific way of thinking can influence global society. His scientific / philosophical article "Why This Universe? Toward a Taxonomy of Possible Explanations" is published in Skeptic Magazine and "Levels of Nothing" in the Vol. 18.2 2013 issue.
Kuhn's multimedia essays are on Space.com and LiveScience.com: "Forget Space-Time: Information May Create the Cosmos", "The Illusion of Time: What's Real?", "Is Our Universe a Fake?", "The Singularity, Virtual Immortality and the Trouble with Consciousness".
Kuhn's latest book, edited with John Leslie, is The Mystery of Existence: Why is there Anything At All?

Other affiliations

;The Kuhn Foundation
Kuhn is chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, which disseminates understanding in science and philosophy, supports cultural endeavors and promotes good relations between America and China. The Foundation produces the Closer to Truth TV series. It also produced the documentary of his wife Dora Serviarian-Kuhn, Khachaturian, which won the Best Documentary award at the 2003 Hollywood Film Festival and In Search of China for PBS.
;The Geneva Companies
From 1991 to 2001, Kuhn was president and co-owner of the Geneva Companies, a mergers and acquisitions firm representing privately owned, middle-market companies. In 2000 Kuhn sold the Geneva Companies to Citigroup.

Criticism of Kuhn's Jiang Zemin biography

Several reviewers argue that Kuhn has obtained privileged access to China's leaders by refraining from critical comments, producing propaganda instead of serious works of non-fiction. A review in Foreign Affairs of Kuhn's The Man Who Changed China, a biography of Jiang Zemin, said it was actually better understood as an officially sanctioned autobiography, presenting an image that China's leaders want the world to see. Additionally, it said the writing of the book was, beginning in 2001, overseen by a secret state propaganda team. The Asian Review of Books said that the first part of this book was "close to hagiography". A review on the website of Forbes said his later book, How China's Leaders Think: The Inside Story of China's Past, Current and Future Leaders, was equally reluctant to criticize Hu Jintao, the leader who followed Jiang. The reviewer writes: "Kuhn merely repeats what the Communist Party says about itself and accepts its words at face value, taking obsequiousness to new heights."

''Closer To Truth''

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. The series premiered in 2000. The current series, Closer to Truth: Cosmos. Consciousness. Meaning/God, is in its 19th season. See List of Closer to Truth episodes. Closer To Truth offers candid, in-depth conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, theologians and scholars, covering Cosmos, Consciousness and Meaning/God. The Closer To Truth website features over 4,000 videos of conversations on Cosmos, Consciousness and Meaning/God.

Media and publications