As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil 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 people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters 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 that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era 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 Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
