When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
