When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the 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 understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – 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 being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
