When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
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 via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established 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 will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
