As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, 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 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 upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America 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, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
