When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of 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 about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked 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 appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
