When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and 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 diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
