When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
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. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
