When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, 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, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
