As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated 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 all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
