When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
