When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
