When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
