As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
