As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
