When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, 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 improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
