When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels 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,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … 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, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
