As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge 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, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
