When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – 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 faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer 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 after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
