When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
