As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said 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 events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, 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. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs 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 attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
