When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
