When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided 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 “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
