As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States 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.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
