As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations 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 that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment 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 lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed 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 legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
