When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
