When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying 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 America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions 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 stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
