When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
