When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than 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 trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable 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 improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
