When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual 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. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
