When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
