When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
