As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated 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 dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see 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 that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed 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, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
