When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
