Robert Lawrence Kuhn[1] (born November 6, 1944) is an American public intellectual and investment banker. He is also an author, TV-producer, columnist and commentator, especially on topics related to China. Kuhn is the creator of the PBS series Closer to Truth. He has been called "one of the Western world's most prolific interpreters of Beijing's policies".[2] Some of his work has been criticized as pro-China propaganda.[3][4]
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.[7] 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.[8]
In 2024 Kuhn published a paper titled "A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications" in the journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology.[9] According to an article written by theoretical physicist and neuroscientist Àlex Gómez-Marín, "Kuhn articulates a taxonomy of about 225 theories of consciousness."[10]
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.[17][18]
After Jiang Zemin died on November 30, 2022, Kuhn published his personal reflections, concluding that "history will be kind to Jiang Zemin."[24]
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."[25]
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".[26] 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,[27]
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.[27]
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]
^ abcSchiavenza, Matt (September 27, 2020). "Inside Man". The Wire China. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
^Global Horizons: America's Challenge in Science and Innovation. "Speaker Biographies". University of Southern California. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
^"Why China needs Xi Jinping as its core leader". South China Morning Post. November 20, 2016. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2019. At a recent party plenum, President Xi Jinping was designated as core of the Communist Party's Central Committee. It was Deng Xiaoping who introduced the concept when he designated Jiang Zemin as core of the third generation of central leaders.