When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what 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, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
