As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
