When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase 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 declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
