When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “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 tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
