When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics 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 recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears 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 difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take 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 left certain stakeholders concerned 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 China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
