When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration 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 bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge 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.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
