As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, 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, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
