When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. 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 has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
