As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
