When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, 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 institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although 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 all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
