As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see 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 cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
