When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … 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 “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
