As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
