As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
