As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
