As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … 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 “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and 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 free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
