As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades 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 the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, 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 China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
