As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, 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, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
