When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America 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 Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
