When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
