When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge 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 “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain 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 reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
