When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
