As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues 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 China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
