As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain 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 required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
