When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
