When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
