As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions 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”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
