When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
