When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
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 required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
