As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and 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 university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
