When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
