As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
