When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
