When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat 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 tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
