As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
