When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
