As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described 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 political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which 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 that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
