As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
