As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
