When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. 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 originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which 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. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
