When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes 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 an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
