When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered 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 never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
