As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
