As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China 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 the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, 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 the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established 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 it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
