As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation 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.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a 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 after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, 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.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
