As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions 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”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
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 domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
