When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised 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 inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
