As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems 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 seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
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 China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor 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 students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
