As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
