When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
