As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
