As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
