When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted 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 being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “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 China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
