When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
