As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
