Jin Canrong

Jin Canrong (, born 26 December 1962) is a Chinese international relations scholar. He currently serves as professor and vice dean of the School of International Relations of the Renmin University of China.

His focus is on the politics of the United States, foreign policy of the United States and China–United States relations.

When Jin was in third grade at school, he was influenced by the movie Undercover and formed a guerilla group with his classmates with himself as leader. Later he was criticised by the teacher and lost his position of hall monitor.

At Fudan University, Jin spent one third of his time studying for his major and the rest reading books on Chinese history and Western philosophy. He was heavily involved in the debate society. After graduating in 1984 he attended Chinese Academy of Social Sciences where he obtained a master's degree in 1987.

In November 2024 at a forum, Jin stated that Kamala Harris would have a better chance of winning the 2024 United States presidential election. However regardless of who won, China-US relations would continue to be the same. A few days later at another forum, Jin argued that a Trump administration would be easier for China to deal with and that as the election enters the final phase, Trump's chances of winning were getting better and better.

Controversies

Questioning the existence of Aristotle In November 2023, a viral video on Douyin of Jin spread where he questioned the existence of Aristotle. He stated there is no written record from before the 13th century that can prove Aristotle's existence. If he existed, it was not possible for him to have written hundreds of books containing millions of words before the arrival of paper in Europe in the 11th century. Mainstream historians criticized Jin's argument as flawed. They stated there was copious evidence of philosophers engaging with Aristotle's ideas and even quoting his texts as early as the 3rd century BC. In addition they claimed Aristotle could have used papyrus and that parchment was not as expensive as initially believed. Aristotle did not complete his works alone and relied on his students to write down some of his oral speeches.

Personal life

Jin's son, Junda attended Peking University and then went to attend graduate school at Johns Hopkins University and Boston University where he obtained both a master's degree and Doctorate. Jin was criticized by netizens as he had previously stated he disapproved of sending children to study in the United States. However some have stated what he meant was he disapproved of sending children too early to study United States. Junda since graduating has returned to China where he works at the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Works

Books

Articles