When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “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 developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump 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. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
