As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
