When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed 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 America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on 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 among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
