As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered 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 – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
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 they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
