When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since 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 worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor 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 left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities 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 take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
