When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, 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 the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government 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 the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
