When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. 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 authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties 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, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted 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 America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
