When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it 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 delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
