As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, 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 seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
