When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
