As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
