Profile of Robert Lawrence Kuhn and his biography of Jiang Zemin

B6 COVER STORY On a mission to explain ‘real’ Ch sED EDITION Above: “How China’s Leaders Think” Right: “The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin” I don’t try to make any- body happy, but I just want to tell the truth. I can be wrong, and maybe my truth is not balanced. Lu Feiran hina expert and American public intellec- tual, Robert Lawrence Kuhn is best known in China for two books about Chinese leaders and their views, including a biography of former President Jiang Zemin in 2005 and one about other leaders and their thinking in 2009. Kuhn, also an investment banker, business con- sultant, brain scientist and philosopher, has been granted unprecedented access to Chinese leaders, though he does not speak Chinese. His biography “The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin” published in both Chinese and English, was a best-seller in China where readers are not accustomed to humanized biographies of leaders. It was probably the first biography written by a foreigner about a living Chinese leader that was published in China. Kuhn has also produced documentaries on China, written extensively for Chinese media and is often quoted by western media. He is a contributor and consultant to CCTV, some Chinese newspapers and the Xinhua News Agency. Kuhn sees his mission as telling the world about the real China. He was in Shanghai late last month for an In- ternational Channel Shanghai (ICS) program he co-produced and wrote about China’s challenges, in conjunction with the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. He held a press confer- ence and also spoke with Shanghai Daily. Chinese media sometimes accuse some Westerners and Western media of China bashing, saying they misunderstand or are even malevolent. But 68-year-old Kuhn, a New Yorker, is believed to have a more neutral view for China. He received a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s of science in man- agement from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a PhD in anatomy and brain research from UCLA. His books were published by the Shanghai Trans- lation Publishing House and Shanghai Century Publishing Group. Kuhn said he “never tried to please the Chinese government, though Western media thought I did.” “I like feedback, including negative feedback, because I know that people are engaged,” he told Shanghai Daily. “I don’t try to make anybody happy, but I just want to tell the truth. I can be wrong, and maybe my truth is not balanced.” Sunday 25 November 2012 Shanghai Daily Kuhn’s experience with China started in 1989, when he was invited by former State Councilor Song Jian, director of the State Science and Technology Commission. The two became friends and Kuhn began traveling between the US and China, getting to know govern- ment officials and ordinary people. Kuhn said he felt frustrated because his experience in China differed from the description in much of the Western media. “Then they only focused on the negative side and ignored the rest,” he said. That disparity inspired him to write Jiang’s biog- raphy, he said. Jiang himself said that Kuhn didn’t “beautify” him and got his wedding date wrong. Kuhn spent four years writing “The Man Who Changed China.” Though he had only met Jiang three times and did not interview him for the book, he talked to many people close to Jiang, including rela- tives, friends and colleagues, gathering stories and perceptions. He became close to many of them. “T thought I had been rather familiar with China before I started working on the book,” said Kuhn. “But after I started collecting the information, I found that my knowledge was very limited.” Humanized leader Kuhn said he was determined to depict a real, ani- mated Jiang, different from the seemingly impassive figure appearing on state occasions, on Chinese TV and in newspapers. “For a very long time, Chinese leaders were either described as God or the Devil, but never in-between,” he said. “So I expected to display a Chinese leader who is a human being.” Soon after publication, it became a best-seller in China. After Kuhn held a book-signing in Guang- zhou, Guangdong Province, more than 300 books were sold in an hour. In Shanghai, more than a million copies were sold in 2005, the highest in the social science category. Chinese readers called the book refreshing be- cause it told daily life stories and described Jiang’s youth. One Internet user called “Burn the scarecrow” said before reading the biography, he thought Jiang was “a quiet man standing high above the masses.” “But after reading the book, my first feeling was that he was once young like us and he is also an ordinary man.” The English version, however, received some criti- cism, primarily that Kuhn was “fawning” over Jiang and the government. Kuhn denied that. “In fact, the book had a disclaimer, saying all HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023703