As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects 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”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
