When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’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 developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
