As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
