As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’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 its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
