When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
