As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
