When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree 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 well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’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 investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
