As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
