As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
