As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots 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 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 presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after 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. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more 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 DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
