As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's 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.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
