As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
