As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on 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 deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’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,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left some investors concerned 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. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
