When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, 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 capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. 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
