As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content 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 a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
