When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, 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 his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
