As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. 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 seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, 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, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
