As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing 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 disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding 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 improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated 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 its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
