When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent 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 in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel 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’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, 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, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
