When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
