When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis 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 observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
