When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation'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 countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who 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 divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring 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 domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves 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, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
