When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
