When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects 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 authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘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 recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
