When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events 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 in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting 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.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be 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 frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
