When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
