When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
