As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
