When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
