When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is 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 the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
