When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
