As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie 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 may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what 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 similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate 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 dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
