When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
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 via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
