When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation 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 absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad