As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired 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 divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
