When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East 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 the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
