As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed 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 the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … 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, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
