When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
