When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. 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 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 a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
