As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations 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 – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder 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 more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
