As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
