When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears 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 sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
