When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without 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 country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
