As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
