As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State 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 type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
