When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, 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 crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
