As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “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 who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen 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 state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, 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 it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
