As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
