As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
