When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, 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 liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
