When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
