When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today 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 his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
