As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’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 improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
