When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie 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 the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
