When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing 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 government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed 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
