When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
