When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material 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. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
