When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing 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 authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
