When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
