As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily 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, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
