As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
