As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed 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 purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However 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 recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, 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 mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
