When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, 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 difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
