As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened 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, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face 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.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
