He was soon assigned to the German delegation to Peking as an interpreter, having completed a course of Chinese during his study at Berlin.
After the First World War, Kuhn began to translate classic Chinese literature into German.
Eventually he ran into conflict with the Nazi authorities, who considered his works to be harmful.
After the end of World War II, Kuhn's work began to be more widely known and appreciated.
Jorge Luis Borges attributes the discovery of a "paradoxical list of animals" to Kuhn.