When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar 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, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
