As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
