As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
