As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
