As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
