When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
