As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
