When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, 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 liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
