As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
