As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
