When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out 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 violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares 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 private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes 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 campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
