As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
