As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
