When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
