When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
