When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic 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 genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
