As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, 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 both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years 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 the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
