When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
