As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. 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 that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
