As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
