When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
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 dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
