When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
