When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous 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 the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
