When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
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, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
