As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
