As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed 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 optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
