When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, 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 cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
