As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, 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 countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, 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 previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
