As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, 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 vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, 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 since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
