When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China 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 Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
