As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects 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 content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
