When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation 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 societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
