When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, 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, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
