When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
