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.

Early life and education
Jin Canrong was born in Wuhan on 26 December 1962. His family was originally from Zhejiang and moved to Wuhan in the 1950s as the factory his father worked had relocated there. There were six children in the family all raised by their mother as their father was too busy with work. Their father studied took night classes to become a technician.

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.

In his second year of high school, Jin decided to switch from the science steam to the liberal arts stream. In the Gaokao, Jin scored 447 points making him the top scorer in Wuhan province for liberal arts. Originally Jin wanted to attend Peking University because Mao Zedong worked at the library there. However his father who went to Beijing for the first time to attend a conference told Jin that it was too desolate and thought Shanghai was better. As a result, in 1980 Jin enrolled at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University where he majored in political science.

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.

Career
After graduation many of Jin's classmates went abroad for research but Jin decided to remain in China where he worked at the academy's institute of American Studies from July 1987 to July 2002. In 1992, Jin participated in an international visitor program of the United States Information Agency and went to the United States to observe the 1992 United States presidential election for a month. Jin noted while the country had a brilliant economy, it could not be copied or imitated. His trip was extended to two years and he returned to China in 1994 as he felt he was destined to have more success there. He wrote his first professional article shortly afterwards which was on the Political Situation in the United States.

From 1995 to 1998, Jin wrote for the column of "Focusing on America" on World Affairs.

From 1996 to 1999, Jin studied at the School of International Studies at Peking University and received a doctorate.

In August 2002, Jin took up an academic post at the School of International Relations of the Renmin University of China where he currently remains.

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.