When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, 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 purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
