As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
