As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
