As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted 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 China is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
