As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. 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 him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
