As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family 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 could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated 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 deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into 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.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
