When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
