When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned 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 China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
