When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
