When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
