As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
