When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown 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. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
