When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China 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 across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. 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, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
