When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
