When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
