When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
