As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
