As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
