As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘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 CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
