When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying 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, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
