As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see 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 perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
