When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, 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 cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
