When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
