When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance 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 public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
