As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics 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 beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, 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, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
