When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, 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, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once 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 am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
