When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration 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 China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US 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 since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain 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 they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
