When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since 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 seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable 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 the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
