When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept 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,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused 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 now than say anything bad
