When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse 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 somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
