As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom 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 create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
