When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
