As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
