When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
