As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
