When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if 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 think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations 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 the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on 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 political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
