When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “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,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
