As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into 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.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
