When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears 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,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
