As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
