As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, 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 perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, 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 government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
