As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about 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 the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once 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 said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
