As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
