When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business 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 national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
