When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed 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 America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
