When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
