When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
