As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. 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 think 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 relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder 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 certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
