When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
