When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
