When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However 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 numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel 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 this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
