When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives 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 such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
