As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
