As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
