As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
