When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
