As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie 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 growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
