Robert Lawrence Kuhn

Robert Lawrence Kuhn (born November 6, 1944) is a public intellectual, international corporate strategist, investment banker, and China expert. He is most renowned for his role as the creator, executive producer, writer, and host of the public television series Closer To Truth. The show serves as a platform for discussions with leading scientists, philosophers, and scholars on fundamental questions about the cosmos, consciousness, and meaning. Kuhn's segment "Asking Ultimate Questions" is the cornerstone of the show, shaping its investigative approach to a range of complex subjects.
In addition to his work on Closer To Truth, Kuhn is recognized as “one of the Western world’s most prolific interpreters of Beijing’s policies.” His work is particularly recognized among Chinese elites, with sales records for his biography of former President Jiang Zemin second only to that of Harry Potter. However, his work has received significant criticism outside of China and has been labeled as a "fawning work of hagiography", or pro-China propaganda.
Kuhn, who holds a doctorate in neuroscience, has authored and edited over 25 books. He is a recipient of the China Reform Friendship Medal, the highest honor in China, and serves as an adviser to both the Chinese government and multinational corporations. He is a regular contributor to the South China Morning Post and the Chinese media, including the Xinhua News Agency, and he appears on major media outlets such as the BBC, CNN, CNBC, and China Central Television (CCTV). His commentaries, The Watcher and The Deep Message (on President Xi Jinping’s policies and activities), air on CGTN.
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.
Career
Closer To Truth
Closer To Truth is a seminal television and web series originally conceived, produced, and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn. Peter Getzels serves as the co-creator, producer, and director. The series has been in production since 2000, with the first two seasons airing that year and a follow-up single season in 2003. The current incarnation, Closer To Truth: Cosmos. Consciousness. Meaning., began in 2008 and has produced 22 seasons to date. The program is broadcast on over 200 PBS and high-quality public television stations, boasting more than 200,000 station-episodes aired.
Focusing on on-camera conversations with a diverse group of thought leaders, including scientists, philosophers, theologians, and scholars, the show explores complex questions ranging from cosmological phenomena to the intricacies of human consciousness and the philosophy of religion. Topics discussed include the nature and origins of the universe, the enigma of consciousness and free will, and the existence and essence of God, among others.
Complementing the televised content, the Closer To Truth website offers an extensive library of around 5,000 videos, making it the world's most comprehensive archive of expert interviews on Cosmos (cosmology/physics, philosophy of science), Consciousness (brain/mind, philosophy of mind), and Meaning (theism/atheism/agnosticism, philosophy of religion, critical thinking). The YouTube channel of Closer To Truth has garnered significant attention, with over 570,000 subscribers and 81 million views across 2,500+ videos.
The show's intellectual foundation is laid by Kuhn's keynote presentation, "Asking Ultimate Questions," which aims to delve into the pressing questions that concern humanity's understanding of the universe and our place in it.
For a detailed list of episodes, refer to List of Closer To Truth episodes.
China
Kuhn was awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal by the Community Party of China (CPC) general secretary and paramount 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.
As The Wire China reported in 2020, Kuhn has carved out a niche for himself as one of the Western world’s most prolific interpreters of Beijing’s policies. The brain researcher-turned-investment banker has spent 20 years currying favor with China’s leadership and gaining remarkable access. In fact, with the possible exception of Henry Kissinger and former Goldman Sachs CEO and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, arguably no other American citizen has spent more time with China’s top leaders.”
During the 19th National Congress of the CPC, 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") and to close the Congress ("New Era on the Road to 2050").
Kuhn has written on CPC general secretary Xi Jinping's "core" status in the CPC ("Why China needs Xi Jinping as its core leader"), 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")., 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")
Kuhn provided the live commentary on CNN during CPC general secretary 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 CPC.
In 1989, he was invited to China by the director of the State Science and Technology Commission, Song Jian, whom Kuhn considers his mentor.
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 CPC leader 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 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.
Kuhn provides commentary that he both writes and presents for CGTN. The Watcher, covering topics like China's politics, economics, society, governance, and foreign affairs, and The Deep Message, which focuses on President Xi Jinping’s policies and activities.
Kuhn is the creator, writer, and host of Voices from the Frontlines: China’s War on Poverty, co-produced with CGTN. He also helmed the five-part public television series China's Challenges, co-produced with Shanghai Media Group and produced by Adam Zhu. Directed by Peter Getzels, China's Challenges clinched the first prize in the China News Award.
The Geneva Companies
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.
Criticism and controversy
In Forbes, Gordon G. Chang questioned the credibility of How China’s Leaders Think: the Inside Story of China’s Reform and What This Means for the Future. His skepticism was particularly sparked by Kuhn's early assertion that Chinese leaders are not authoritarians—a claim Chang found 'demonstrably untrue.' Similarly, John Walsh, an Assistant Professor at Shinawatra University, observed that much of the initial part of Kuhn's The Man Who Changed China seemed to paint an exceptionally favorable view of Jiang Zemin, potentially influenced by firsthand accounts from close associates and family. Nevertheless, Walsh concludes, "for what is a fascinating portrait of a man who was at the heart of the recent Chinese economic transformation and a sense of the nature of the political process in China, this is a valuable and lengthy contribution."
In Foreign Affairs, Bruce Gilley, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at the New School University, critiqued the same work. Gilley posited that the book might be best perceived as an officially sanctioned autobiography, reflecting the image China's leadership aims to project. He further speculated about the book's development possibly being supervised by a covert state propaganda team from as early as 2001. However, this assertion remains unverified. Moreover, Gilley pointed out that the Chinese government censored 10% of the content of the Chinese edition.
Kuhn offered a response in the January/February 2006 issue of Foreign Affairs.
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. Instead, Kuhn says, 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.” After Jiang Zemin died on November 30, 2022, Kuhn published his personal reflections, concluding, "History will be kind to Jiang Zemin."
References
1944 births
Living people
21st-century American biographers
American business writers
American investment bankers
American science writers
Johns Hopkins University alumni
MIT Sloan Fellows
MIT Sloan School of Management alumni
University of California, Los Angeles alumni