When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
