As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China 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.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed 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 would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat 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, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
