From the Inside Flap
China is an economic superpower competing in every arena of human endeavor. From trade and technology to culture, media and sports - China's growing strengths have global implications. But who are China's leaders, current and future, and what do they make of the country's growing influence? What are China's future leaders doing today? And how do they think about democracy, political reform and China's place in the new world order?
How China's Leaders Think focuses on the forces shaping China - the leaders and their philosophies; the government and it policies, and a nation of 1.3 billion people embracing change. With unique access to Communist Party officials, author Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviews over 100 of China's leaders. He portrays President Hu Jintao, and looks to the next generation of China's leaders, including Xi Jinping, likely China's next president; Li Keqiang, likely China's next premier; and "Rising Star" politburo members Li Yuanchao, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, Bo Xilai and Wang Yang.
Kuhn speaks with China's leaders in private companies, state-owned enterprises, banking, foreign affairs, military, agriculture, healthcare, religion, media, internet, film, literature, ideology and more to create an extraordinary portrait of China today. Is there a viable "China threat" or an emerging "China Model?" In confronting China's leaders on China's problems--economic imbalances, pollution, corruption, human rights, media censorship, religious tension, and ethnic conflicts, to name a few--Kuhn's finds frank acknowledgement of the long road China must still travel in order to realize President Hu's vision of a Harmonious Society.
The best way to know China--and the best way to do business with China--is to know what motives China's leaders and what drives their policies. How China's Leaders Think is, quite literally, an invaluable roadmap of how China's leaders view the key issues of the day. Readers will not get closer to China's leaders than this insightful book from Robert Lawrence Kuhn.
Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn is an international corporate strategist, investment banker, and public intellectual. For over 20 years he has worked with China's senior leaders and advised the Chinese government. Dr. Kuhn also advises multinational companies on formulating and implementing China strategies, and Chinese companies in capital markets financings.
The author or editor of over 25 books, Dr. Kuhn is often in the media (e.g., CNBC, Euronews, BBC, BusinessWeek, Xinhua News Agency), discussing China's politics and economy and the philosophies and policies of its senior leaders. He is senior international affairs commentator on Euronews, the leading television news network in Europe, and senior international commentator of China Central Television (CCTV News).
Dr. Kuhn works with China's leaders on special projects. He is the author of The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin--the first biography of a living Chinese leader published in China and China's best-selling book of 2005. He is the author of two event-marking books: China 30 Years: A Great Transformation Of Society, which commemorates China's 30th anniversary of reform and opening up and features President Hu Jintao; and How China's Leaders Think (the first edition of this book), which commemorates China's 60th anniversary and focuses on China's new ("Fifth") generation of leaders. Dr. Kuhn has visited more than 40 cities in over 20 provinces and regions in China. He is senior advisor to CCTV and Xinhua.
Dr. Kuhn is chairman of The Kuhn Foundation, which produces Closer To Truth, the public television / PBS series on science and philosophy (which Dr. Kuhn hosts)--www.closertotruth.com. He has an A.B. in human biology (John Hopkins), a Ph.D. in anatomy / brain research (UCLA) and an S.M. in management (MIT).
