As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, 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 reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed 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 article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
