When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
