When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
