When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
