As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
