When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
