As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
