As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … 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, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
