As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after 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 too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
