As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
