When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … 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 said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, 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 government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
