When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe 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 China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, 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 US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
