As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced 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 would occur in the United States – 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 social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
