As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
