When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
