When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
