As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than 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 mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent 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 US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, 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 the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
