When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly 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 talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
