When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of 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 mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “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, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
