As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
