When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
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 sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
