When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
