When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while 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 the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
