As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
