As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, 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 appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
