As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
