As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” 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 the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China 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 purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
