When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although 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 publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
