As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
