When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event 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.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
