As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries 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 to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against 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 once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues 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 these days than say anything bad
