When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation 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 undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined 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 dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of 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 the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
