When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
