When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China 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 his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
