As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions 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 closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, 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,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
