When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into 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 numerous scholars in China were shocked 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, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
