When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, 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 investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
