As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president 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 economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it 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 disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled 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, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
