When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “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 content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era 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 among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
