When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
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 through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions 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 actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
