As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
