When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
