When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
