As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
