When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
