As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
