As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders 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 the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
