When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
