When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping 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 nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
