As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still 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 approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
