When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
