As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
