When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
