When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” 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 China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
