As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America 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 the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
