As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where 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, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, 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. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs 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 divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
