As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident 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.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics 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 the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
