When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
