As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
