When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
