As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders 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, under Trump 2.0, 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,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound 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’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about 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, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities 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 US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
