When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America 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.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
