As 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 avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
