As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
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 post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
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 defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
