When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
