When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
