When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase 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 announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
