As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
