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Robert Lawrence Kuhn[1] (born 1944) 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, writer and host of the show Closer to China with R.L. Kuhn[2] and The Watcher[3] and Xi's Deep Message[4] commentaries. Kuhn is the creator, writer and host of the public television series Closer to Truth, which presents scientists and philosophers discussing fundamental issues (cosmos, consciousness, philosophy/religion).[5] His presentation, Asking Ultimate Questions,[6] is the foundation of Closer To Truth. His essays are featured on LiveScience.com and Space.com.[7]
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.[8]
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 (WCG). The WCG's Systematic Theology Project[9] was coordinated by Kuhn, but later banned by WCG Founder Herbert W. Armstrong. Kuhn severed his connection to the WCG and its affiliates (1978), including the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation (classical music concerts, featuring musicians including Vladimir Horowitz and Luciano Pavarotti), which Kuhn had created and managed.
During the 1980s, Kuhn represented American and Japanese companies in mergers and acquisitions.
Kuhn was awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Chinese leaders at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up (December 18, 2018). The medal 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.[10][11] 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 (October 2017), 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 ("Historical Starting Point for New Stage of Development")[12] and to close the Congress ("New Era on the Road to 2050").[13]
Kuhn has written on CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's "core" status in the Chinese Communist Party ("Why China needs Xi Jinping as its core leader"),[14] the elimination of term limits for China's leadership ("Xi Jinping's power has a purpose—one person to see China through its development plans").,[15] and the Sixth Plenum of the CPC Central Committee (November, 2021) ("Sixth plenum: with Xi at the helm, a new era when China becomes strong")[16]
Kuhn provided the live commentary on CNN during CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's policy address in Seattle on September 2, 2015, during Xi's state visit to the US.[17] 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.[18]
Kuhn writes on Xi's Four Comprehensives political theory of governance,[19][20] and on understanding the Communist Party of China (CPC).[21][22]
In 1989, he was invited to China by the director of the State Science and Technology Commission, Song Jian, whom Kuhn considers his mentor.[23] 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 CCP leader Xi Jinping.[23][24]
He wrote The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin.[25] It was the first biography of a living Chinese leader and was a best-seller in China in 2005.[26][27] 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 (CGTN); 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.[28]
Kuhn created, writes and presents The Watcher,[29] short commentaries on China, and Xi's Deep Message,[4] short commentaries on the activities, trips, speeches, statements and policies of CCP leader Xi Jinping (averaging over one million views, including in China). Adam Zhu is co-creator and producer.
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[30] and is presented by PBS SoCaL (2013). The series focuses on critical issues confronting China's leaders and government (social problems like healthcare, economic transformation and pollution, political reform and transparency, science and innovation, beliefs and values). China's Challenges II, focusing on the Chinese Dream, was broadcast on PBS stations in 2015. China's Challenges won China News Awards (first prize, 2013, 2018; second prize, 2015), Emmy (Los Angeles, 2016), and Telly Awards (2017, 2018). and won an Emmy (Los Angeles, 2016) and . China's Challenges III, on “Xi Jinping Thought” and China 2020/2050, will be broadcast in 2019.
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 (sold to Citigroup in 2000).
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 (BBC World News / BBC World Service), CNN, Bloomberg, others. Kuhn is a senior international commentator for political, economic, social and business matters on CCTV News.[31][32] 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.[33] He is one of the China Visionaries in the TV series produced for China's 60th anniversary by Shanghai Media Group (one of two Americans, along with Henry Kissinger) and he was featured on CCTV Channel 1's Focus Talk. Kuhn created, wrote and presented a six-episode series on Expo 2010 Shanghai,[34] broadcast on CCTV. For the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Kuhn co-produced (with Shanghai Media Group), 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.[35] Kuhn was selected by Oriental Outlook magazine (published by Xinhua News Agency) as one of the all-time top-ten influential supporters of China's ruling party/CPC (the only one living).
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?[36]
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 (with China Central Television) In Search of China for PBS.
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.[37]
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. The series offers candid, in-depth conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, theologians and scholars, covering Cosmos (cosmology/physics, philosophy of science), Consciousness (brain/mind, philosophy of mind) and Meaning/God (philosophy of religion). The accompanying website features over 4,000 videos of conversations. Kuhn's presentation, Asking Ultimate Questions,[38] is the foundation of Closer To Truth.