When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
