When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions 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 “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil 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 the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
