When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party 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 America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
