When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America 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 democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
