When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take 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. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
