When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America 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 to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … 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, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
