As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting 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 observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state 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 similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
