When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
