When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US 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 speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
