When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, 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 don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party 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 since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family 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 could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
