As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues 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 now than say anything bad
