As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
